After all the demonstrations, proposals, and negotiations a contract award is now in hand. The product is made and ready to be shipped out to the customer. No problem, just ship it. If only the process was that straight forward. The route that one navigates to win a contract can be as complex as the process to ship the order. There are a number of controls that that go beyond whether a product is permitted into or out of a country. A shipment is often controlled by a number of different government agencies, restrictions, and regulations; it often involves more than Customs alone. Compliance is critical to ensuring not only proper movement of goods, but a solid corporate profile. Take into consideration that in the event incorrect documentation and filings are submitted, to what level of public press, scrutiny, and fines could your company sustain. Is it worth it to pay thousands or millions of dollars to shortcut a process, to ship a product incorrectly?
For example to export just one shipment of a U.S. origin controlled product out of Canada could involve approvals and regulations from U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Commerce, Global Affairs Canada (GAC), Transport Canada, International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). All of those agencies have regulation that must be consider otherwise the consequences can result in criminal penalties, significant financial fines, loss of exporting privileges and revoke of government contracts.