Your Broker Knows Blog

If there is a recurring theme in international trade, it is almost certainly complexity. There are countless moving parts, niche rules, special considerations, and even strange corner cases that are all necessary for staying compliant while trading internationally. This often-moving target of compliance is what makes an extra pair of eyes so important for keeping your import business on the straight and narrow.

Let’s imagine a situation: You have been working on a new product for months, researching the rules for importing goods into the US, common mistakes to avoid when importing into the US, and what must be declared at US Customs. You put in the work and the preparation in an effort to best prepare yourself for the day it arrives. 

Beginning on August 1st, 2024, stricter rules are coming into play regarding dogs crossing the border into the US. While this may seem largely irrelevant to standard US importers, these additional rules surrounding dogs may have a significant knock-on effect for your trade in ways that may not seem immediately obvious. 

Among the most easily confused or missed of the import bonds, the Temporary Import Bond (TIB) is the perfect tool for a particular kind of import, namely, brief stays in the US with the intention of being returned within a set timeframe. Most famously, this bond is used for exhibitions, trade shows, repairs, and assembly.

Among the most easily confused or missed of the import bonds, the Temporary Import Bond (TIB) is the perfect tool for a particular kind of import, namely, brief stays in the US with the intention of being returned within a set timeframe. Most famously, this bond is used for exhibitions, trade shows, repairs, and assembly.

Importing a car into the U.S. from Canada, you first need to determine if the car is admissible into the United States.  Canada allows for vehicles th …

The last of our bonds series tackles one of the more niche uses for a Customs bond - the Temporary Import Bond (TIB) or, as its equivalent is known in Canada, the E29B. Essentially, these two allow importers to bring items into their respective countries that are intended to be exported unchanged after a brief period - with the notable exception of repairs and overhauls.

The Lacey Act is a US declaration that is a joint effort between the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the US Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service. The act helps to combat the illegal trafficking of wildlife, fish, and plants by making importers declare further details about their imports if they include materials covered by the Lacey Act. It is particularly focused, in the case of commercial importers, on the importation of wood, plants, and wildlife that has been harvested illegally. 

What is the FDA? The FDA, or the Food and Drug Administration, is the federal agency most responsible for ensuring that food, drugs, cosmetics, and other related items are safe, clean, and correctly labeled for human and pet

Last week’s post dived into what it means to be a bonded carrier and the kinds of bonds that can matter most to those carriers. This week, we are going to take in the one or two common types of surety bonds that are most valuable to the importer on both sides of the US/Canada border. If you’ve ever wondered what the difference between a single entry and a continuous bond in the US is or what CARM is going to mean for commercial importers in Canada, then this is the post for you.