Question: Hello ICPA community, I am working with one of the major small parcel providers that sold my company on their “program management” solution awhile back, which is extremely costly. I think many of us fail to see the value and have decided to discontinue the service. In doing so, I’ve asked for global contacts […]
Question: With regards to the ruling of last week ( HQ H290535) for Hampton providing HTS numbers to its customers for importation use, how does this effect a company in the USA who manufactures a product and sells to OEM’s and other companies, and are asked by these clients what the proper HTS or Schedule […]
QUESTION: I am the Trade and Compliance Manager for a global organization and managing our Customs Broker falls under my umbrella, but I do not have a say in what freight forwarders are used. We import about 200 containers a year. In the past we had the same company that did our brokerage move our […]
QUESTION: We are looking to receive reports from our customs broker to supplement our ACE import reports. Logically we will ask for the entry number to link to the ACE data. Want to ask the membership what other information, not submitted to/available in ACE, they ask their customs brokers to report and how frequently reports […]
QUESTION: We are a customs broker and have traditionally saved our records in paper form. We are now looking into saving scanned copies. Specifically, we are considering keeping the scanned copies either on a corporate drive, which would require certain permissions to delete documents, or in our ABI system which allows us to store the […]
QUESTION: For customs brokers, does the broker always have to accept “service of process” on behalf of a non-resident importer when the broker is filing their entries? Or is it the broker’s choice to accept service of process vs. requiring the non-resident importer to designate another U.S. agent to accept service of process? I’ve reviewed […]
QUESTION: How does your brokerage team measure efficiency? We are currently focused on entries filed per agent and are exploring other metrics to help identify opportunities for improvement. Do you get more detailed than each entry summary, such as efficiency per entry line? Or have different metrics for different customer needs, such as PGA, multiple […]
QUESTION: We are looking to update our POA agreements with the Broker. Currently there are three separate agreement for three different locations that clear Customs under the same IOR. We are looking to imitate one agreement for all locations that will show the company Corporate Office as the principle location of business . Can this […]
QUESTION: I am new to my company and I am responsible to oversee our customs broker who makes a lot of errors. The broker relationship was established long before me and going on 10 plus years.I am in the process of auditing and establishing KPIs for our broker and currently the error ratio is 18%. […]
Question: I’m responsible for trade compliance for 6 different divisions. Would providing an SOP to the import broker the other divisions use be considered “Customs Business”? %%%%%%%%%% ANSWERS: When in doubt read the regulations. See the definition of “customs business” below. It appears what you are doing falls under the category of a “corporate compliance […]
QUESTION: Is there a way to file a PSC with customs, stating that the errors are broker errors, not caused by the importer? If so, how would the broker file the PSC, admitting that the errors are caused by the broker, not the importer. %%%%%%%%%% ANSWERS: If it were a Prior Disclosure you were submitting, […]
QUESTION: Our transportation manager does not feel like brokerage fees should be allocated to the freight side of the business. Was curious how other companies may be allocating these charges. ==================================================== Answers: How are duties allocated? Brokerage charges are directly related to meeting import requirements. If duties are allocated as a tax, brokerage charges may […]
