Your Broker Knows Blog

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is serious about commercial import invoices. The commercial import invoice is used when the agency determines if the duties, taxes and fees involved with goods imported into the US were declared correctly by the importer. Because the exporter-created document contains all the pertinent information related to the import shipment, the commercial import invoice is required for clearance by CBP in a form that comports with agency requirements, which can be found in Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations (aka CBP regulations).

Entry Type 86 is a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) entry type for goods valued under $800 USD - previously allowed under what is commonly known as a Section 321. These are filed on the ACE manifest without a formal Customs entry, provided there were no entry restrictions. Entry Type 86 shipments are not required to pay duties and taxes and as a result, an entry bond is not required. This is an appealing option for many businesses. Keep reading to understand how Entry Type 86 will affect Section 321 shipments.

In an effort to combat human rights injustices, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may issue a Withhold Release Order (WRO) for certain goods. We recently saw this with textiles and apparel manufactured from cotton grown in the Xinjiang Province in China, which also grows some of the best cotton in the world. However, 85% of the cotton grown and harvested in China comes from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, using forced and/or child labor.

Duty drawback is a basic principle of US international trade law. Simply put, the process of drawback allows 99% of import taxes or duties, along with other taxes and fees paid on imported merchandise, to be refunded upon the exportation of those items subject to drawback provisions under the law. This refund is available to you even if another party did the importing. More than $600 million is recovered annually through the US duty drawback program, and companies are reportedly paying 20% of those refunds to service providers to help them get refunds from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency which administers the program. CBP believes that up to 85% of potential refunds go unclaimed each year.

Sweeping legislation is rapidly coming together and is projected to have a historic impact across the US supply chain. Outlined in the America Competes Act of 2022 (H.R. 4521), there are some notable impacts on trade. The Bill, currently moving through the House of Representatives, addresses many areas of import, but most notably with De minimis, Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties and imports of seafood and softwood lumber. It is expected that the legislation laid out in the Bill will undergo changes, however below are key points as they are currently represented.

Do you need to route your shipments through the US to keep them moving? There are various reasons that a ground carrier may need to take this action including road closures, dimensional or weight restrictions. Whatever the reason may be, here are a few conditions of use for US Transportation and Exportation (T&E) Bonds that may help you determine if routing your load through the US is a feasible option.

It’s not often that a service provider will tell you how not to pay as much for their services, but when they do, we all sit up a little straighter and pay attention. Such is the topic of today’s blog on how to reduce your import costs with these 5 tips.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the US Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate and increase tariffs or impose trade sanctions on countries whose trade practices are deemed discriminatory to US commerce. It reaches beyond the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), to give the US authority to penalize importers of foreign goods. This legislation allows the US to enforce their rights under bilateral or multilateral trade agreements.

When US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) concludes that an examination of imported goods for trade compliance is in order, the

If you import, export, transport, sell, receive or acquire goods made up of plant or wood products grown or manufactured outside of the US, then you are likely following the implementation of the Lacey Act. Currently, the Lacey Act implementation is in Phase 5, but will enter Phase 6 on October 1st, of this year. Keep reading to understand what this means to your business and the additional steps you will need to take.