International compliance is the set of policies, controls, and habits that keep a business operating within the laws of every country it touches. The Law Office of Tracy A. Wong, P.A. helps companies in Coral Gables, Miami, and abroad design compliance programs that fit how they actually operate, and keep those programs working as the business grows.
Why Compliance Becomes Urgent
Compliance tends to arrive as a requirement from someone else. A new customer asks for an anti-corruption policy. A bank asks about sanctions screening. An investor’s diligence questionnaire asks how the company monitors third parties. A business that expands into a new country inherits that country’s rules on bribery, money laundering, trade, and employment, often before anyone has mapped them.
Miami businesses are especially exposed, because so many trade with Latin America, Europe, and the Caribbean, work with intermediaries, and move money across borders as a matter of routine. A program built early is far less expensive than one assembled under pressure after a problem has surfaced.
What the Firm Provides
- Compliance program development and audits
- Multi-jurisdictional regulatory guidance, coordinated with local counsel where needed
- Anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering (AML) frameworks
- Trade, export control, and sanctions compliance
- Employment and labor law compliance
Building a Program That Works
An effective program starts with a risk assessment: where the business operates, who it pays, who acts on its behalf, and which transactions carry the most exposure. Policies are then written for those specific risks, in language employees can follow, rather than adapted from a generic template.
The practical controls matter as much as the policies. They include due diligence on agents, distributors, and other third parties, approval rules for gifts, hospitality, and payments, record-keeping that would satisfy an auditor, and a clear route for employees to raise concerns. Training is tailored to the roles that carry the most risk. The program is then tested periodically, because a policy nobody follows offers little protection. For companies that already have a program, the firm reviews it against current operations and identifies where it has fallen behind the business.
Third Parties and Intermediaries
Many compliance failures involve someone acting on the company’s behalf: a sales agent, a distributor, a customs broker, or a consultant who deals with government officials. Under anti-corruption laws, a company can be held responsible for improper payments made by its intermediaries. The core protections are proportionate due diligence before appointment, clear contractual commitments, fees that match real services, and periodic review of each relationship. The firm helps design that process so it is practical to apply to every new relationship, not only the largest ones, and so the business has a record showing it acted with care.
Compliance and Growth
Compliance is not only defensive. Larger customers, lenders, and investors increasingly expect to see a working program before they commit, and a business that can show one moves through procurement and diligence more quickly. Compliance planning also feeds directly into decisions about where to set up entities, how to contract with foreign partners, and how to structure cross-border payments.
Credentials and Coordination
Tracy A. Wong holds the Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional – International (CCEP-I) credential from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, earned in 2021, and has 15 years of legal practice, including 13 years as in-house counsel and 14 years in the oil and gas sector, an industry with demanding international compliance expectations. Ms. Wong is admitted to practice law in Florida. Where a matter depends on the law of another country, the firm works with and coordinates qualified local counsel, so the business receives one coherent program rather than separate advice from each jurisdiction.
Does a small business need a compliance program?
Any business that works with foreign customers, agents, or suppliers, or that handles cross-border payments, benefits from a program sized to its risks. Larger customers, banks, and investors increasingly ask to see one before doing business.
What does a compliance audit involve?
An audit reviews where the business operates, who acts on its behalf, and how payments and approvals are controlled, then compares the existing policies and practices against the applicable laws. It produces a prioritized list of gaps and recommended fixes.
Can the firm advise on the laws of other countries?
Ms. Wong is admitted to practice in Florida. For questions that depend on another country’s law, the firm coordinates qualified local counsel and integrates that advice into a single compliance program.