Iris LIAO is a partner at Merits & Tree Law Offices. Her main practice areas include Customs & Global Trade Compliance, Import/Export Controls & Economic Sanctions, smuggling defense, and trade remedies (AD/CVD). She has issued legal opinions in hundreds of disputes concerning dual-use items and other import-export trade controls, IP protection, inspection and quarantine, administrative penalties and related matters. She has provided legal services to numerous enterprises on US IEEPA tariff rebates, anti-dumping and countervailing proceedings and criminal defense for smuggling-related offences. She has handled over 100 administrative reconsideration and administrative litigation cases covering rules of origin, commodity classification, as well as royalty payments and other valuation issues.

Prior to joining Merits & Tree Law Offices, Iris LIAO was a Government Attorney at China Customs. She has participated in the drafting and revision of multiple customs-related laws and regulations including the Customs Law and the Tariff Law. She conducted legislative reviews of over 20 regulatory instruments, such as the Administrative Measures for the Origin of Import and Export Goods under RCEP and the Administrative Measures for Customs Comprehensive Bonded Zones. She has authored numerous professional papers in journals including Customs and Economic Research and Customs Law Review. With in-depth experience in regulatory administration, practice and policy research, she possesses robust industrial research and analytical skills, and excels at synthesising legal, industrial and economic expertise to provide holistic, multi-dimensional project-based analyses.