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Do You Know What’s in Your Shipment? Adding Items Adds Unforeseen Consequences: 19 CFR 141.89
Imagine sending a shipment of multiple products only have it returned to your doorstep, causing processing delays and a dissatisfied customer. By adding a simple cotton sample or complimentary T-shirt to your shipment without providing the required information outlined in several obscure areas, this friendly gesture has turned into a customs nightmare.
Under U.S. 19 Code of Federal Regulations 141.89, many everyday items require unexpectedly thorough vetting. These include ball bearings, beads, bed linens, color dyes, copper, cotton fabrics, yarn, footwear and more. The importation of each component is contingent upon fulfilling specific CBP requirements, ranging from certificates of origin, detailed manufacturer information, and calculating the average yarn number of a textile derived by means of a CBP-supplied formula. Items with these additional requirements cannot be imported into US Customs Territory without supplying the necessary information to CBP.
To mitigate these risks, the shipper must be aware of these additional requirements and plan ahead to meet the conditions of entry for every piece of cargo. A container full of expensive turbine parts, with a single steel wire included in the shipment, can be held at the port due to the lack of information regarding the chemical composition of the wire’s steel and the mill where that steel was manufactured. Some shippers may expect such problems to be easily resolved by amending the shipping documents by removing the problematic item, but the solution is not so easy after the shipment has arrived at the port.
In the case of the container held up by a steel wire, the shipment may need to be returned, or the offending item may need to be separated and forfeited. Other options can include paying for the shipment to be transferred to a Free Trade Zone or having it be placed in a bonded warehouse in order to manipulate the package. In any case, these options come at an additional expense.
By consulting trade compliance experts and listing all products in each of your shipments, these expensive delays can easily be avoided. By vetting each product, compliance experts can proactively collect all information needed for each unique shipment, allowing products to flow quickly across borders.
Failure to prepare for import requirements can lead to lengthy delays, expensive storage fees, returned shipments, and even forfeiture of cargo to the CBP. Education and preparation are key to efficient shipping. Even seemingly trivial products can lead to significant costs and time lost. By preparing a process upstream for import reporting requirements, a small time investment can prevent significant delays and costs.
Contributor: Justin Kim-Hummel
The Allyn Advantage
Allyn has 25 years of Trade Compliance experience and 7 licensed customs brokers on staff. Our highly skilled team is focused on developing customized trade compliance solutions that increase operational efficiency and savings.
For more information on how we can offer assistance in reviewing your trade compliance portfolio as it to developing tailored, compliance programs please contact us at allyncustoms@allynintl.com.
About Allyn International
Allyn International is dedicated to providing high quality, customer centric services and solutions for the global marketplace. Allyn's core products include transportation management, logistics sourcing, freight forwarding, supply chain consulting, tax management and global trade compliance. Allyn clients range from small local businesses to Fortune 500 firms. Allyn conducts business in more than 20 languages and has extensive experience in both developed and emerging markets. Highly trained experts are positioned throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Allyn’s regional headquarters are strategically located in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.A., Shanghai, P.R. China and Prague, Czech Republic. For more information, visit www.allynintl.com.