Every commodity, every port

Start with what is in the box

Most importers arrive at a broker’s site looking for “customs clearance”, which is a bit like walking into a hospital and asking for medicine. The work is real, but it is not generic. A container of frozen shrimp and a container of plywood are both entries and they have almost nothing in common. The first is FDA Prior Notice, a SIMP record and a cold chain that degrades while the shipment sits in review. The second is a Lacey Act declaration, a formaldehyde certification, and an antidumping scope question that can multiply the duty rather than add to it.

So this index is grouped by the shape of the work instead of alphabetised. Every page answers the same four questions about one kind of import: which agencies have jurisdiction and what we transmit to them, where the goods usually classify, what the tariff exposure looks like now, and the specific failure that most often holds that commodity at the port.

Three ways in

By commodity is where to start if you know what you are shipping and not much else. There are 19 pages here, running from meat, produce and wine through metals, chemicals, furniture, jewellery and vehicles. Read the one that matches your goods before you book the freight rather than after. Almost every expensive surprise in this business is a requirement that had to be met before lading, and there is no version of the entry that fixes it once the vessel has sailed.

By filing is for the instrument rather than the cargo: bonds, the security filing, temporary imports, in-bond and in-transit movements, drawback claims. Use this group when you already know what you need done and want to see how it is done, what we need from you, and how long it takes.

By modeis ocean, air, truck and rail. Mode sets the clock more than anything else does. An ocean entry can sit on file for days before the vessel berths. Air cargo lands and needs release in hours, so the classification work has to be finished while the aircraft is still moving. A truck crossing needs its filing accepted and the reference in the carrier’s hands before the driver reaches primary, or the load is turned around at the booth.

What is the same on every one of them

Whatever the commodity, the sequence does not change. We classify from your commercial documents, not from a description of the goods over the phone. We file the entry and the partner-agency message sets ahead of arrival, so release lands at discharge instead of after it. If CBP or an agency holds the shipment, you hear it from us before you hear it from the terminal, along with what it will take to clear it. And after release the file stays open: post-summary corrections, Form 28 and Form 29 responses, protests and drawback are part of the same job, not a separate engagement we come back to sell you.

If your commodity is not listed

A customs broker licence is not commodity-specific. This index describes what we file most often, not the limit of what we are permitted to file. If your goods are not here, send the commercial invoice, the packing list and a specification sheet to info@dapecustoms.com. You will get back the classification we would use, the agencies that will be involved, and whether the goods carry Section 232 metal content, a Section 301 rate or an AD/CVD order, before you commit money to the shipment.