Two years ago, on behalf of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (the NCBFAA), GKG Law worked with the US Coast Guard (USCG) to challenge the attempts of the ocean carriers that would have required NVOCCs and shippers to provide a Verified Gross Mass (VGM) Certificate to the carriers in advance of tendering […]
In some industries and professions, certain employers have complained that competitors are unfairly stealing their skilled blue collar and professional employees. These employers contend that it hurts business and raises costs when they spend time and effort training employees only to have those employees offered a job with a competitor. The competitor usually offers the […]
On January 28, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) designated Petroleos De Venezuela, S.A. ("PDVSA") as a Specially Designated National ("SDN") pursuant to Executive Order (“E.O.”) 13850 for operating in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy. In addition, the definitions of “Government of Venezuela” in E.O.s 12692, […]
Under the current Antitrust laws, large companies seeking to merge must file a Hart-Scott-Rodino Report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the Department of Justice (DOJ) describing the proposed transaction. The respective antitrust agencies then review the information in the report and, within a given time period, must inform the parties to the transaction […]
Over the past several years, there have been many examples of the need for companies acting as forwarders, and NVOCCs and customs brokers to properly vet the trucking companies they utilize in order to be assured that those companies are competent, have trained drivers and appropriate safety ratings from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration […]
On January 21, 2019, France’s data privacy agency, the National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) announced that it was issuing a €50 million fine against Google, Inc. for violating the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is the first major enforcement action under the GDPR and the first enforcement action against a U.S.-based company. […]
One of the original provisions of the Shipping Act, 1916 was former Section 17 (which became section lO(d)(l) of the 1984 Act and was recodified in 1998 as 46 U.S.C. §41102(c)). This section provided that no regulated entity could "fail to establish, observe and enforce just and reasonable regulations relating to or connected with receiving, […]
On December 10, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS” or “Service”) issued Notice 2018-99 and Notice 2018-100 which interpret and provide administrative guidance and transition rules relating to new Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) §§ 274(a)(4) and 512(a)(7)—the dreaded parking benefit addition to unrelated business income taxes. These notices provide the first published guidance available to […]
Effective at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, November 5, 2018, the U.S. fully re-imposed the primary and secondary sanctions on Iran that were in place prior to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA,” or the “Iran Nuclear Agreement”). In addition, the U.S. government has designated numerous additional entities in the financial, shipping, and energy […]
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “2017 Act”), which was passed by Congress and signed by the President on December 22, 2017, contains a number of provisions that directly impact owners and operators of business jet aircraft; this Legislative Alert summarizes those provisions that are most pertinent to aircraft owners and operators. […]