Import

Questions and answers about Import

  • LIABILITY FOR COURIER ENTRIES

    Question: Our company utilizes an express courier that also does the customs clearance on these shipments.  The courier utilizes their own tax ID and clears the shipment acting as the importer of record and our company is listed as the ultimate consignee.   My question is, what is our liability with CBP if we are simply […]

  • SPLITTING SHIPMENTS TO AVOID CUSTOMS

    Question: It has recently come to my attention that some of my international officesare dividing single shipments (of 10 widgets, say) into multiple shipments(5 shipments of 2 widgets each) in order to avoid customs formalities /licensure / permit requirements that would apply at destination if theshipment was sent as a single shipment.  I put the […]

  • IMPORTING ITEMS WITH BATTERIESINCLUDED

    Question:We are currently importing product into the US without batteries.  I was recently informed that we will begin inserting the batteries (4 x D’s) during production in China.  Can any on advice what (if any) declarations will have to be made to US Customs or any other government agency when importing products with batteries into […]

  • FOOD SAMPLE IMPORTS

    Question:We are a US company that makes products for the food industry.  We do not produce food, only components used by the food industry to manufacture and sell their products.   Occasionally, we need to import food products into the US to determine how our product can be used with that particular food.  We recently attempted […]

  • “FREEZING” FOR IMPORTER NUMBER

    Question: Question for the membership… I was looking through the regs forestablishing an Importer number and came across a section on “freezing”, andwanted to make sure I am understanding it correctly.  Is that justdesignating an alternate address than what is shown on the 5106 for customscorresopndence?  If not what would be the benefit of doing […]

  • US PARENT BEING IOR FOR FOREIGNSUPPLIERS

    Question:Situation: Our Mexico and Canada subsidiaries often need to return/bring things into the US  where we, the US owner, are not party to the transaction. For example – Our MX company returns empty air cylinders to the Texas vendor for the deposit money. Our Canada company sends equipment to a repair company in Ohio ( […]

  • US Import of Investigational Drugs

    Question:   Are there specific countries were these types of imports would require an import license or additional information outside of typical requirements:   TSCA cert’s, LOI (letter of intended use), USDA letter addressing BSE/TSE statements (in the event gelatin capsules were used to encapsulate the drug product), and the IND#  (as the only valid AOC […]

  • CUSTOMS BUSINESS

    Question: My colleague and myself are US licensed customs brokers reporting to alogistics mgr with limited understanding of US Customs regs. Until recentlywe have been employed by one of the subsidiaries (“subsidiary A”) of the USholding company for an MNC, and performed compliance activities for anotherUS subsidiary (“subsidiary B”). As we have been preparing to […]

  • PETS FROM MIDDLE EAST

    Question: A number of my friends and co-workers want to support an army squad’s desireto bring their young dog home from Afghanistan. I’ve read the newspaperstories about the extreme lengths people have gone to in the cases ofsoldiers & friends’ families doing this after a tragic loss of life, so Iknow it is possible. This […]

  • DROP SHIPMENTS VIA COURIERS

    Question:Can the membership offer any advice/suggestions on how to arrange drop shipments via the courier/small package providers?  Our biggest challenge is ensuring the proper documentation is submitted and used for the entry (our company should be listed as IOR) but preventing our cost from reaching our end customer.   We are responsible for the import (may […]