About What OCCIC Attorneys Do
The Office of the Chief Counsel for International Commerce (OCC-IC) provides legal support to the Department of Commerce, particularly the Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA), including ITA’s three business units -- Enforcement and Compliance, Global Markets, and Industry and Analysis. (Legal support for ITA’s Enforcement and Compliance is also provided by the Office of the Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance.)
OCC-IC legal work focuses on providing support for Department of Commerce entities or offices engaged in trade and investment promotion, fostering international competitiveness, foreign investment reviews, and commercial representation abroad. OCC-IC attorneys collaborate broadly within the Department, with interagency colleagues, and with foreign counterparts. OCC-IC attorneys participate in the development and implementation of international trade, commercial, and investment policy at all stages, including negotiating and implementing international agreements.
Highlights of our Work
Every day, OCC-IC attorneys address complex and novel legal issues in support of U.S. economic growth and global competitiveness. Highlights of OCC-IC’s legal work in support of ITA include:
• Monitoring compliance with international trade and investment agreements to which the United States is a party;
• Promoting Exports through trade shows, trade missions, and other export promotion-related activities;
• Facilitating the international free flow of data through mechanisms like the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the APEC Cross Border Privacy Rules;
• Effectuating transparency and antibribery initiatives ;
• Interpreting and analyzing U.S. trade laws (except antidumping and countervailing duty laws);
• Implementing Title III of the Export Trading Company Act of 1982;
• Supporting Advocacy for U.S. companies competing for foreign government procurements and projects;
• Reviewing investments as part of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS); and
• Assisting in the protection of U.S. intellectual property rights abroad.
Negotiation and Enforcement of Trade Agreements
OCC-IC actively participates in the negotiation and enforcement of a variety of international agreements, including:
• Bilateral and multilateral trade agreements (such as the World Trade Organization agreements and U.S. free trade agreements);
• Bilateral investment treaties; and
• International anticorruption agreements on bribery in international business transactions.
Interpretation and Analysis of International Trade and Investment Law
OCC-IC advises the Department on laws, regulations, international agreements, and commercial practices in the United States and foreign countries affecting trade and investment, including those regarding:
• International investment,
• Privacy and other restrictions on the international transfer of data;
• Standards and regulatory practices,
• Intellectual property rights,
• Government procurement,
• Antitrust and competition policy,
• E-commerce and privacy,
• Trade finance,
• Foreign business practices,
• Bribery and corruption,
• Customs and trade facilitation, and
• International dispute settlement.
Litigation
Where appropriate, OCC-IC works closely with the Department of Justice and other agencies with respect to litigation to which the U.S. government is a party or in which the U.S. government or the Department of Commerce may otherwise express a view. OCC-IC also works with the Department of State and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on international dispute settlement as it affects U.S. commercial interests.