It is believed that most cross-border e-commerce companies have a painful history of returning goods because the product standards do not meet the standards of the destination country. As one of the main markets for cross-border e-commerce of Chinese sellers, the United States believes that many sellers have heard of its more stringent and mysterious customs inspection. So today, I will popularize the U.S. Customs inspection with you.
U.S. Customs was established on March 1, 2003, in two parts, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which are responsible for border enforcement and case investigation, respectively.
In the import and export trade, the general contact is with the Customs and Border Protection Agency.
What does customs check for?
According to the E-Commerce Elements of Compliance published on CBP's official website, it provides basic compliance guidelines for cross-border sellers, and compliance with the guidelines can reduce the risk of being intercepted and detained by CBP, with a view to rapid customs clearance.
CBP's E-Commerce Compliance Guidelines focus on product description, product value, product quality, total weight, country of origin, and other certification requirements from government agencies.
What are the methods of customs inspection?
1) VACIS EXAM (basic inspection): one of the most basic inspection methods of the United States Customs, the customs requires the submission of customs clearance related documents (including customs manifests and customs clearance documents) for review, without dismantling the container, which is a simple inspection.
Time: 1-3 days
2) X-RAY EXAM: Generally, when the container arrives at the port, it needs to be scanned with an X-ray machine, not dismantling, simple inspection, customs officers only need to look at the image, if everything goes well, they will release the container according to the procedure.
Time: 1-2 days
3) Tail Gate (open container inspection): After the container is inspected by the X-ray machine at the terminal, if the customs officer still has doubts, the seal of the container will be opened and the door will be opened, and the inside will be checked. If an abnormality is found, it is checked by MET (manual inspection).
Time: about 3-5 days
4) Intensive Exam (manual inspection): This kind of inspection is the most stringent inspection method of shipping in the United States, the entire container will be transported by the customs to the designated inspection location, and the private company SCE (inspection station) authorized by the customs will carry out centralized unpacking inspection, and will open all the cargo boxes in the container, and unpack the container to check the number of boxes, product names, product pieces, amounts, intellectual property rights and other details. In case of suspicious items, customs officers will even be notified to conduct a sample check on the goods.
Time: 5-10 days or more
How to improve the pass rate of customs inspection
If the customs inspection, the cargo information is consistent with the document information, as long as the goods are not contraband, imitation brand goods, there is no entrainment problem, the United States Customs has a perfect inspection and release mechanism, the impact will not be too great. For cross-border sellers, if you want to improve the pass rate of customs inspection, you must pay attention to the following points!
1) Truthful declaration: the actual and declared elements of the goods are consistent, the weight, quantity, price and model must be true, and the declaration information should be concise and concise;
2) Consolidation of packing list invoice documents: complete and standardized information of cargo packing list invoices, understand what official documents are required for the export of goods, and avoid inspection due to incomplete information;
3) HS code regularization: improve the HS code according to the actual information of the commodity, and simplify the HS code according to the specifications of different export modes, carefully check it, and avoid information errors being seized;
4) Find a reliable logistics service provider: Find a freight forwarding logistics provider with rich experience and safety to reduce the inspection rate.