Our Practice Areas:
Investment Regulation and Compliance
Our Expertise
For more than twenty years, PARKWOOD professionals have helped numerous clients increase their trade and investment activities while contributing to lowering their costs. With the experience of past activities in more than fifty countries, PARKWOOD professionals have counseled private and public clients on multiple commercial issues, specifically including the negotiation of investment and trade deals, increased transparency in the availability of remedies, as well as concerning disputes between individual parties or regulatory matters with various government agencies.
We offer a variety of strategic services to our clients, from designing cost and tax-effective investment strategies, to securing regulatory approvals, and implement the agreed-to strategy with support from associated advisors in providing a turn-key solution which mitigates risk.
Almost all investments have risks, in particular in frontier economies. We have, for some twenty years, advised clients who have invested in countries which were experiencing substantial change. Specifically, our professionals have analyzed various forms of investment, from sales representative offices, to branches, to joint ventures, to “greenfield” investments, to acquisitions and divestitures, including business conduct.
We have advised clients of different sizes, from corporations with multi-billion revenues, to SME (Small and Medium-size Enterprises), and individual investors. Our work spans multiple industries, in all business aspects (e.g. manufacturing, distribution, services). We specialize in helping clients invest and succeed in emerging and frontier markets, where the rules are less well defined, and personal relationships of trust sometimes count for more than dealing with multiple layers of the bureaucracy.
Areas of Compliance
Compliance with U.S. and Other Countries' Trade Sanctions
- Interpret U.S. legislative and executive branch sanctions, and OFAC application to relevant transactions
- Advise on reportable issues, and prepare reports
- Counsel on OFAC’s licensing process
- Undertake compliance audits and provide assessments with specific recommendations to eliminate areas which could create violations or conflicts of interest
- Provide compliance and ethics training specific to each country, including FCPA, UK Bribery Act 2010, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, etc.
- Assist trading clients in compliance with certifications of origin, Buy American Act, product performance, quality assurance, U.S. Export Controls and Exon-Florio.
U.S. Import and Export Control
Furthermore, PARKWOOD PARTNERS™ professionals, and their affiliated advisors, counsel their clients on U.S. import and export control issues, including those concerning:
- Preparation of applications for customs valuation and import compliance licenses in the U.S. (e.g. Departments of the Treasury, Commerce, State, etc.)
- Internal compliance and reporting policies and audit procedures
- Investigations and compliance training, including drafting of reference manuals
- Appeal procedures to Customs to release goods and reduce penalties
- Formation of free-trade and/or special industrial zones, including designing policies on the management of import duties
- For exporters, dealing with labeling requirements and markings regarding country-of-origin