RLA helps toymakers navigate Mexico trade maze.

Exporting toys south of the border proves cumbersome

An RLA program is helping L.A. County's small toy companies export their products to Mexico by teaching company officials how to navigate the necessary mounds of paperwork and regulations.

El Segundo-based toymaking giant Mattel Inc. is playing a pivotal role in the program by disseminating to the smaller companies the knowledge it has about exporting toys to Mexico, sources said.

RLA officials last summer interviewed dozens of officials at L.A. County-based toy companies with anywhere from four to 600 employees, not including Mattel. They found that an issue of utmost importance to many company officials was learning how to export their wares to Mexico, said Linda Yeung, director of economic development at RLA.

All the toy companies interviewed by RLA are located in what RLA officials consider neglected areas of L.A. County. The mission of RLA -- a private, nonprofit organization based in downtown L.A. -- is to revitalize neglected areas of L.A. County.

Southland toy companies ship most of their exports to Mexico because of its proximity to California, Yeung said. So, to educate company officials about the regulations they must follow and steps they must take to export there, she organized meetings with Mexican government officials, as well as a trip to the border. Once there, some toy company officials got a first-hand look at the Mexican customs process.

Speakers at the first meeting, held last August, included officials from Mexico's Department of Commerce and from its customs operations. These officials explained to the 30 toy company representatives in attendance how to prepare a certificate of origin, Yeung said.

A certificate of origin is a document stating where a product was made. Officials from toy companies often have trouble knowing how to prepare such documents because the Mexican government is continually changing the regulations concerning their preparation, Yeung said.

Major toy corporations can afford to open an office in Mexico or to hire representatives there to keep tabs on changing customs regulations, said Charlie Woo, CEO of Megatoys, a downtown L.A.-based toy manufacturer, importer and exporter. But small toy companies don't have such resources and lack vital trade information, he noted.

Many times smaller toy companies are left in the dark because laws are changing in Mexico so fast, added Daniel Min, former sales manager at BMI America, a stuffed-animal manufacturer based in downtown L.A.

In the weeks following the August meeting, officials from Mattel gathered together some of their own information about how to prepare certificates of origin for toys being exported to Mexico, as well as information about how those toys should be labeled, Yeung said. They gave the information to RLA, which then mailed it to about 40 companies.

Then, in October, the regional administrator for customs in Mexico, Jorge Rojo Deschamps, met with officials from three L.A.-based toy companies. These were Woodland Hills-based Applause Inc., downtown L.A.-based Megatoys and Mattel.

At this meeting, labeling laws and safety standards for goods being exported to Mexico were discussed, in addition to the certificate of origin rules, Yeung said.

In November representatives from Megatoys and Mattel traveled to the Mexico border to meet with customs officials. The officials talked about how the toy companies should prepare paperwork for customs properly.

The toy company representatives relayed what they had learned to the smaller companies at another meeting held by RLA in December.

RLA acts as a "go-between" between the larger toy companies, such as Mattel and Applause, and the smaller ones, Woo said. Applause, which imports and exports plush toys, is one of the largest toy companies in L.A. County.

Also at that December meeting, international trade attorney Marjorie Shostak discussed how tariffs on toys would be reduced under the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade. That agreement, which calls for the lowing of tariffs worldwide by more than a third, is expected to become effective Jan. 1.

Federal appointments: Four officials from L.A. County-based companies were appointed in December to the federal Industry Policy Advisory Committee. The committee's responsibilities include providing general policy advice to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor on trade negotiations, administration of trade agreements and other trade matters, according to a statement.

The committee is jointly overseen by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce.

The four appointees from L.A. County-based companies are Ronald Burkle, CEO of Century City-based grocery company Yucaipa Cos.; Lisa Specht, partner in Los Angeles-based law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; William Rollnick, member of the executive committee at Mattel; and Roger Hirl, president, CEO and COO of Occidental Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of Westwood-based Occidental Petroleum Corp.

A total of 35 people from across the country were appointed to this committee.