TradeLane

Last year I published a blog entitled “The No-No List.” were I talk about bad ideas in Trade and in my household. Well, a year later I’m sure we are a little older, a little smarter, and my sweet children have learned to stop putting gum in each other’s hair… maybe not but I’m definitely a year older. 

Since my first day at Tradewin, I have always been interested in items being seized at the border and general non-compliance.  It seems like such an interesting crossroad of illegal activity.  Some I think are quite obvious to you and I, while others are not so much. 

Being audited is pretty unpleasant. Having people go through your things in minute detail looking for mistakes you have made. Most companies’ normal reactions to a customs audit in Korea is probably ‘Why us?’ or ‘We are doing just fine’.

Well, unfortunately it looks like customs auditors have different views on how well companies are doing on customs compliance. In 2013, the Korea Customs Service imposed $200 million USD in additional duties collected through customs audits and investigations; more than 4.4 times the 2012 figure. And this number has been steadily growing ever since.

The CBSA Audit Priorities were recently released for the second half of 2016. This gets called many things “Trade Verification Priorities” or the “CBSA Audit Target List” or just “2016 Audit Priorities”. Whatever name this gets really doesn’t matter, it’s a most wanted list.

Yep, the Marshal has put out the targets they’re gunnin’ for; and if yer importin’ them into Canada yer a most wanted importer.

Ok! You can lose the John Wayne or Yosemite Sam voice now.

Accuracy of your HTS classifications is as important as ever.  Have you reviewed your current classification database? Are you aware there could be fines and penalties for incorrect tariff codes.  Coming up, Tradewin will have a two part blog series outlining the importance of accuracy, but first, a reminder of why it is so important!

HTS Classification is a necessary evil. Unfortunately, it is an evil that must be revisited often. There are various ways to approach harmonized tariff classification from doing it yourself, hiring a third party service provider, or just putting the pages up on the wall and throwing darts at it to determine which HTS Classification to use. (While the last one is a great way to relieve the stress of classification, I personally would not recommend this method).

You may have missed it but on February 24, 2016, H.R. 644 became public law. What is H.R. 644 you ask? It is the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015.

Great. More rules. And largely with a focus on CBP, ICE and the GAO. Snooze.

But for importers there really is some awesome news!