Exam 3
A US company operating in a foreign country may be allowed flexibility in not complying with US employment law when to do so may result in a breach of local government law. This is called:
"Foreign compulsion defense."
Under Title VII, an employer can clearly advertise some jobs limiting applicants by gender, or hire persons only of one gender for that position. A lawsuit is filed against a company hiring "Males only" for a job. The likely defense by the defendant company is that the gender criteria were:
A bona fides occupational qualification (BFOQ) for that position based on its duties.
US law regulates the use of pesticides inside the United States, but exports to foreign nations with few/no use restrictions may allow the unsafe use of those pesticides, as well as export of contaminated agricultural goods back to the United States. This is called the:
Circle of Poison.
Company A in the United States has a unionized workforce of 250 employees at its facility in rural Georgia. It is a money-losing facility, and senior company executives decide to close the facility. Which statement best describes the obligations of Company A to "bring in others" or notify others of their intent to do so?
Company A must post at least 60-day prior notice in writing of its intent.
John is an "evangelical Christian" who proudly (and often) professes his religious beliefs to all around him while trying to convert them. He is outspoken at his job, and his boss fires him one day, stating, "We have to fire you for being such a religious person." John is angry but has no legal recourse for this clear religious discrimination. In which country is he likely working as a citizen?
Cuba
Treaties between the United States and other signatories often state companies in any signatory state to choose their executives of their own nationality without regard to local anti-discrimination laws, e.g., national origin. These are called:
Friendship Commerce and Navigation Treaties.
In the 1997 Sanders Amendment, Congress banned the import into the US of:
Goods made by forced child labor.
Kenya, which adjoins Uganda, seeks to protect a species of African elephants that tends to travel in groups across borders. The elephants are at risk of extinction because of poaching. The best tactic to protect this species would be for Kenya to:
Have this species placed on the "endangered list" of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
China presents one of the most blatant forms of institutional discrimination by requiring the registration of households used to determine eligibility to certain entitlement programs, which is called:
Hukou
ABC Company in Burlingame, California wishes to export from the US a sophisticated ground positioning system (GPS) for use in all motorized vehicles, e.g., cars. ABC has already licensed this to General Motors and Ford. You are outraged when the US government (Commerce Department) insists the GPS system can only be exported under a valid license from BIS. How do you advise them if you are their attorney?
If this item is already viewed as a "dual use" product and listed on the Commerce Control List, it will be very difficult to export legally.
A famous multilateral treaty calling for a reduction of substances feared to damage the Earth's ozone layer by production and consumption restrictions is known as the:
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
Countries A, B, C and D enter into a customs union for free trade (i.e., 0.0 % tariff) for goods crossing the border within the group. Widgets from Country E are imported into Country A and a 6.0% ad valorem tariff rate is applied on each imported widget. When A exports the widgets into B, C, or D, those nations will apply a tariff rate of:
No tariff (0.0%)
Company A in the US is opening a factory in Italy to manufacture its products, e.g., radio transmitters. These products made by Company A for special use are generally controlled by EAR when being exported. It wishes to send over to Italy certain quality assurance software programs and testing equipment for use in its Italian facility to assist in the manufacturing process. Must it obtain an export license form BIS if EAR-covered?
No, these are "tools of the trade" and can be temporarily exported without a license so long as remain under control of Company A and secured.
European Union regulations require that a pregnant employee in a covered company who is out of the office on maternity leave for delivery of her child must be:
Offered 14 weeks or more of leave and a salary of at least 75% of the regular amount.
In 2016, the United States and approximately 190 other nations agreed to implement standards to restrict "global warming" to an increase of less than 2 °C in the:
Paris Agreement.
Company A wishes to institute an export management and compliance program. You are asked to implement such a program for the first time at the company. A key part of such program and an area deserving special emphasis is:
Requiring record-keeping for all exports and a mandate for retaining such records for five years. This includes broadly all "records" such as license applications, supporting documents, etc.
Saudi Arabia refuses to do business with Israel or companies located there. You are a French citizen owning a cable manufacturing firm in Paris that does much business with the Israeli government. What advice do you give the president of the French company if he also wants to do business in Saudi Arabia?
Saudi Arabia may have placed his company on a "blacklist" since it has sold goods to Israel in the past.
The Basel Convention is a successful, multilateral treaty in which nations work together to address:
Setting commons standards for the movement of hazardous waste across borders and its disposal.
AT&T and other US companies benefitted in 2004 immensely when NAFTA eliminated all tariffs on:
Telephones, cellular phones, and trade in telecommunications equipment.
The first major international treaty addressing environmental concerns was the:
The Stockholm Declaration (SD) on the Human Environment adopted in 1972.
Several nations share access to the Mediterranean Sea. Your company is in the commercial fishing business and notices that catches in the Sea for certain fish are becoming smaller and smaller over time, suggesting depopulation of those species. A good place to seek a remedy for this would be to facilitate the involvement of the:
UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Ross Perot was an independent candidate for President in 1990s who opposed the US entering into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA.) His famous comment that after entering into NAFTA there would be as a result a "giant sucking sound" referred to:
US jobs leaving the US for lower wages in Mexico would create a "giant sucking sound."
Bell Helicopters located in Fort Worth, Texas owns much proprietary technology about the software needed to operate military helicopters safely. The export of this technology abroad is controlled by various US laws and regulations, and cannot be exported to China. A Chinese national in the US on a spousal visa works at Bell's facility in Euless, Texas. Are there any export restrictions on his access to that technology?
Yes, because he is a national of a state to whom exporting of the technology is prohibited.
An organized refusal of one or more nations to trade with a certain nation or nations, backed by economic sanctions is called:
boycott
The US government has the exclusive power to regulate trade among states and with foreign nations. This power is derived from:
commerce clause of US constitution
Large exporting firms typically wish to minimize legal risks of violating export control regulations and all export laws in general. A best strategy for doing this is:
Establishment of an export management and compliance program.
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) promulgated under original authority of Export administration Act of 1979 are administered by:
- US Department of Commerce - US Department of Treasury
All shipments of goods between the US, Canada and Mexico must contain a written "promise" that the goods originated in North America in order to qualify for preferential treatment under NAFTA. This "promise" is called:
a certification of origin
The policy reasons to support the control and licensing of certain exports include all of the following excerpt:
To promote price stability and affordability of certain products.
You are the owner of a US manufacturing company. You know all about the Kyoto Protocol and its effort to reduce worldwide carbon dioxide emissions. A potential foreign customer asks if your company supports the US government in its compliance efforts with the Protocol. Your best answer is:
The Protocol was not ratified by the United States
In general, US companies wanting to export pesticides to a foreign buyer must obtain:
The advance "prior informed consent" (PIC) of the buyer.
A number of US labor and employment statutes are specifically stated in the law itself to not apply outside the US. This prevents:
Their extraterritorial application.
Title VII of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act do not apply:
To non-US citizens employed outside the US.
If goods are produced or assembled in more than one country, the country of origin must be determined to determine preferential tariff treatment under NAFTA. This determination is typically made by application of:
The "substantial transformation test."
In export control regulation, the unlawful transfer, transshipment, rerouting or re-exporting of controlled items or technology is called:
Diversion
Laws and regulations restricting the sale and licensing of goods and technology exported from the US are generally referred to as:
Export controls
The formal attempted resolution of disputes arising from interpretation of NAFTA is conducted by:
NAFTA Fair Trade Commission.
A foreign-based company with US domestic company ownership/investment is covered by Title VII laws. However, the claimants must be a US citizen, and the court will further look to see whether the domestic US company:
"Controls" the foreign entity.
The largest trading partner of the US in 2015 in the two-way trade of goods and services was:
Canada
WTO principles generally allow an exception to free trade obligations by allowing a nation to implement a ban on imports of products that it believes may raise a threat to the health, such as:
Asbestos products
You are the chief official for Saudi Arabia in analyzing alternative energy sources, as your country is very dependent on income generated by oil drilling. Based on the Brazilian experience and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 enacted by the US government, a quickly emerging major potential competitor to oil consumption is:
Biofuels.
Company A in US is asked by "Francois de Nationale" in Marseilles to sell it 1,000 gallons of arsenic, a poison. The price offered is above the market price. Without asking any questions, Company A obtains the required license and exports this item. The BIS seizes the goods in transport and says that there is on the Company since the end user is a terrorist organization front. What is BIS' basis of this alleged liability? Is it valid? What are best defenses by Company A?
BIS will assert Company A staff did no due diligence investigation of end user and displayed "conscious avoidance" by not seeking to ascertain truth. Payment of above market price was a "red flag."
The significant and lasting change in weather patterns is generally referred to as:
Climate change
EAR applies to commercial and "dual use" items defined to be:
Commercial item that has potential for military, terrorist or "proliferation" uses.
NAFTA provisions and its Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in Montreal aggressively promote:
Common (i.e., transnational) environmental standards in NAFTA member states.
Sweaters are made in Mexico. The Mexican manufacturer then imports South African-manufactured buttons into Mexico and sews them into the product for the first time after which they are then exported across the border to a US buyer. Under NAFTA rules, this sweater will be eligible for NAFTA preferential rates if the South African buttons represent at most _______ of the total cost of the sweater.
7%
Brazilian companies export shoes made there to the Mexico and a 4.0% tariff is applied by Mexico. (The US imposes an 8.0% tariff on those same shoes if imported.) A Mexican company then immediately re-exports those shoes to the US and claims they are entitled to a preferential NAFTA tariff rate of 0.0%. The US will claim the applicable tariff rate is:
8.0%
When two or more countries agree to eliminate or to phase out customs duties and other barriers to trade among member countries this is called a:
free trade area
_____ are typically the most effective form of sanctions
Multilateral sanctions resulting from passage of resolution by UN Security Council
United States and Canadian banks and other companies offering financial services wish to open offices in Mexico to obtain customers there. Does NAFTA restrict this?
No, NAFTA has allowed financial service companies to locate in Mexico, acquire 100% of local institutions (including insurance companies) and mandates nondiscriminatory treatment.
One of the main areas of scrutiny and review by the government for license applications to export controlled items or technology is for applicants to specify in detail in the application:
The person or entity receiving the item or "end user."
The process of spreading manufacturing and assembly operations across international borders is called:
Production sharing.
German law mandates substantial employee participation on a corporate board of directors by requiring:
A two-tiered system with a supervisory board with employee members and a management board running company on its day-to-day operations.
A US company has its assets seized in Mexico for failure to obtain a business permit. The US company is outraged and wants to know if NAFTA allows this. You advise that NAFTA protects alien investors from expropriation by:
Allowing expropriation only if made for a public purpose and investor is later paid fair compensation.
Legal responses by governments that make it unlawful for its citizens or companies to participate in a boycott are called:
Anti-boycott laws
France and Germany have a dispute about transboundary pollution, regarding air pollution from German factories that drifts into France, impacting aviation and tourism. France complains and demands that the matter be resolved by arbitration. Germany:
Can reject this demand if there is not an arbitration requirement in an international treaty agreement or a contract it had previously entered into.
NAFTA mandates that written notice with a comment-period opportunity be given to all members if a nation wishes to change the:
Technical regulations and standards for a product imported into the notifying country.
Company A in the United States competes against other US and foreign companies in the making of kitchenware, e.g., cups, plates, etc. It believes a foreign competitor is sending into the US items made by convict labor or forced labor in China. What can it do to prevent this?
Demand that Customs "block" entry of these items into the US under US law.
American Resorts, Inc. (AR) has a hotel/casino in Honduras operating as its branch in that country. It operates a small, upscale casino in a hotel, where it hires only attractive females to work as "exotic dancers" and "casino cocktail waitresses." Guillermo applies for a job there as an "exotic dancer" and claims that this female-only job criteria is discriminatory against males and violates applicable Title VII laws. How would you (as president of IR) respond to him?
Femaleness is a bona fides occupational qualification (BFOQ) for these jobs, but not for other jobs he can apply for.
In the best interests of their public, nations often attempt to "re-route" rivers or engage in entirely legal domestic activities upstream that may have a negative impact on a neighboring state's uses of that river (or a downstream state suffering a negative consequence, e.g., environmental changes, irrigation of crops, etc.). What is an increasingly used forum an injured state may use to resolve these disputes and seek a remedy?
International Court of Justice of the UN.
In a ______, there is free trade in all goods that comes into the group through any of the members, even for original, tariffed imports from outside the group which are then re-exported.
customs union