Bobbi Jo (BJ) Shannon

• Advised clients on interpretation of and compliance with free trade agreements and preference programs, and represented clients in the due diligence, petitioning, and opposition phases of CBTPA, CAFTA, and NAFTA commercial availability proceedings.
• Challenged numerous attempts by Customs and Border Protection to deny preferential tariff treatment under free trade agreements.
• Guided clients through audits by Customs and Border Protection and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
• Prepared classification, commodity jurisdiction, and license requests and advised clients on sanctions and export controls administered by the Commerce Department, State Department, and Treasury Department.
• Drafted petitions, prepared supporting documents, and led meetings with Customs and Border Protection in seizure, penalty, and liquidated damages cases, resulting in the release of merchandise and substantial mitigation of penalties.
• Obtained binding classification and valuation rulings on a wide range of imported products, and protested existing determinations by Customs and Border Protection.
• Conducted due diligence and consulted on contract terms for corporate acquisitions and high-value sales transactions.
• Counseled clients on import requirements imposed by the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Department of Agriculture, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
• Assisted clients in developing compliance programs for requirements imposed by the Consumer Product Safety Act, the EU’s REACH law, and state requirements such as California’s Proposition 65, and served as a resource to clients on Toxic Substances Control Act reform and green chemistry initiatives.
• Prepared applications and obtained designation under the Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act.

BJ Shannon represents clients in all areas of import and export regulation, with particular emphasis on customs matters. She represents importers, exporters, customs brokers, freight forwarders, and trade associations in the aerospace and defense, pharmaceutical and medical device, machinery, textiles and apparel, and technology industries.

BJ calls on her in-house experience to provide practical legal solutions that are consistent with a company’s operational realities and business goals. She also offers a global perspective to multinational companies, whose every transaction is both an import and an export and has both U.S. and non-U.S. regulatory implications.

BJ partners with clients to give proactive advice on value, transfer pricing, classification, supply chain security and labor compliance, free trade agreements, and other duty savings programs. She counsels clients on how to establish internal compliance programs, to identify and mitigate risk, and to conduct self-assessments. She also helps companies focus transactional due diligence, draft purchase and sale terms that drive trade compliance, and identify requirements when the FDA, EPA, DOT, ATF, DDTC, BIS, or other government agencies regulate imports or exports.

BJ represents clients in matters before U.S. Customs and Border Protection in audits, protests, seizures, civil penalty cases, and criminal enforcement matters as well as in response to routine information requests. She has also represented clients in trade litigation and trade remedies proceedings.

Languages

• German

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Georgia

Education

• University of Virginia (J.D., 2003)
• Tulane University (B.A., 1999)

Memberships