Elsa Manzanares

Partner at Akerman, LLP

With a focus on minimizing trade and corruption risks for buyers or sellers in international transactions, Elsa Manzanares advises clients on U.S. and international regulations governing the import and export of goods, services, software, and technology.

She has successfully represented companies facing investigations or inquiries by the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of State on matters pertaining to violations of U.S. export regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Elsa has experience handling issues relating to the export and licensing of defense articles, defense services, and encryption items, as well as anti-boycott compliance, and export reporting requirements. She represents clients before the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on transactions implicating U.S. sanctions and embargoes, including the agency’s programs on Russia, Iran, and Cuba.
Elsa advises clients on the import regulations administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including product valuation, tariff classification, country of origin, product marking (for Customs purposes and Made in the USA claims), and claims for duty-free treatment under various free trade agreements, including NAFTA. She has also represented clients facing seizures of goods at the border for intellectual property rights violations, country of origin marking, and other issues. Elsa also advises clients on antidumping and/or countervailing duty matters before the U.S. Department of Commerce and trade litigation in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Elsa was appointed by the Office of the US Trade Representative to serve on the roster of panelists eligible to review antidumping and countervailing duty disputes involving the United States, Canada and Mexico under Chapter 19 of NAFTA.

In addition, routinely representing clients on transactions reviewed for national security by the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Elsa frequently addresses import, export, and corruption risks in mergers and acquisitions. She also advises companies facing investigations by the Department of Justice on FCPA matters.
Elsa’s clients have included software companies, defense contractors, manufacturers, retailers, and others in various sectors including, aerospace, explosives, firearms, chemicals, military training and services, energy, oil and gas, food and beverage, banking and financial services.