Insights

US Customs can request and audit documentation up to five years from the date of entry, and therefore, the retention requirement for documentation is five years. In some cases, the requirement can be for longer. Such as entries subject to certain trade barriers, anti-dumping, etc. - those documents must be kept until the cases are closed. There are stiff penalties if an importer cannot provide or reproduce those documents when requested. At minimum, an importer’s record retention should include the following: the full customs entry packet, including the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, any related certificates. Trade agreements often require additional certifications, including the verification of country of origin.

There are so many Free Trade Agreements (FTA’s) that it can be challenging to keep track of - and they often change just like HTS classifications. It is not just a one-size-fits-all for every agreement, and even within agreements, there can be different statues for different countries.

Come on!, we know you have questions! We’d be surprised if you didn’t because we get them every day. And though we get so many different ones, all unique to each client’s experience there are some that most have in common. The list below are the ones we get most frequently about this crazy ocean import market we are in.