10/26: Getting Paid and Compliance: Export Controls and Sanctions Risk for Credit and Collection Professionals

Sanctions and export controls are not just a shipping department issue. For credit and collection professionals, they can decide whether a customer can be approved, whether an invoice can be collected, and whether a payment can be accepted at all. This session gives a practical overview of current U.S. sanctions and export control legal frameworks and how they show up in everyday credit and receivables work. We will discuss screening customers and their beneficial owners, key red flags in orders and payment instructions, what to do when a customer becomes sanctioned mid-relationship, and how blocked or frozen funds affect collections. We’ll also cover recent enforcement trends and the highlight where U.S. and EU rules overlap.  Attendees will leave with a practical compliance guidance that they can apply to domestic and international accounts.

Lizbeth Rodriguez-Johnson is a Counsel in Reed Smith’s International Trade and National Security Group. She has more than 20 years of experience advising U.S. and international clients on U.S. export controls and trade sanctions, including conducting internal investigations, audits and gap assessments. She regularly helps clients develop, draft and implement customized export compliance programs that reduce the risk of non-compliance while meeting their business needs. She also routinely represents clients in civil and criminal investigations involving potential or apparent violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), and the trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).