Your Broker Knows Blog

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. 

For those who engage in global trade, a Customs broker is a vital piece of the international puzzle, and we aren’t just saying that because we are one. The pure volume of knowledge and specialized services provided by a trusted Customs broker to an importer is comparable only to those offered by a lawyer or a doctor. Certainly, you could defend yourself in court or Google-diagnose, but it is as inadvisable as it is dangerous and unnecessary. 

This week, in a series we’re calling Shaken and Stirred - Bonds, Customs Bonds, we examine all the different types of bonds Customs brokers work within the US and Canada every day.In Customs brokerage, we bandy about the term ‘bond’ for just about every situation, but not every bond is appropriate for every situation, and often, that single term can actually mean a multitude of different things. We know it can be a confusing mess for those who are uninitiated to its complexities, but at PCB, we are here to help untangle the term and bring you a better understanding. This series is intended to provide a helpful and quick reference for dividing this concept into useful and meaningful parts. 

Imagine you have a sports car that was entirely manufactured in the US. Repairing it requires specialty skills, equipment, and parts, so you send it to a specialized Canadian company. After getting the repairs, you arrange to have the car shipped back home. The question at the heart of today’s post is this - is that import dutiable in the eyes of Customs and Border Protection?

Antidumping duty, or ‘AD,’ and countervailing duty, or ‘CVD,’ are two of the key ways that the International Trade Administration and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) work together to protect US businesses. AD/CVDs are safeguard actions, known as Trade Remedies, that are intended to utilize these organizations’ unique position to balance the marketplace and keep US businesses competitive in an increasingly large global marketplace.

With tax season still fresh on everyone’s mind, now is the perfect time to test your importer health. When it comes to taxes, most businesses scrutinize their internal processes every year to help keep things running smoothly and avoid the worst effects of a potential audit - often going so far as to hire an outside consultant to serve as a kind of test auditor.

This week, we thought we would explore a little-known US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulation on relationships: what is the relationship between the Importer of Record and the international seller? In other words, are they Related Parties?

Rarely does a single hole sink an entire ship, and never has that been more true than in the mini case study we have for you today. There are many valuable issues tackled in this one, including: Is corporate identity theft a real thing?

For those who don’t know what ‘classification of goods’ at Customs is, it is the declaration, in precise detail, of the exact nature of an import. It is a process that uses a sophisticated system referred to as the ‘Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System” or the HS Code.