If you are into importing, you must what a customs hold means. There are different kinds of CBP holds which affect your shipments differently. But there are ways to speed up the import process even if your shipment is held at the border. Aside from issues with customs compliance, there are other reasons your shipment can be held at customs but you can easily deal with or prevent this from happening if you have a customs broker handling the clearance process for you.
A customs hold means your shipment is suspended at the border. This measure guarantees compliance with different import laws and regulations. The kinds of customs hold you may face depend on why your shipment needs to be withheld.
Inspection Holds
The CBP may hold your shipment to examine it more closely for verification purposes. While this kind of hold is usually mistaken for a regular inspection, there is a big difference. An inspection hold includes partner government agencies such as the FDA, USDA, CPSC, EPA, and others. For the importer, an inspection hold leaves them losing a significant amount of time. To avoid a time-consuming inspection hold, a proper declaration must be presented upon entry to the U.S.
Documentary Holds
Importers must get their details right on all paperwork and ensure labels match up. A shipment can be put on a documentary hold due to inconsistencies, missing information, or errors in shipping papers. Such errors can be found in commercial invoices, Air Waybills, Bills of Lading, import declarations, and others. With a documentary hold, there is a risk of the goods being denied entry.
Security Holds
This type of customs hold is imposed if there is a possible risk to national security. This hold is usually triggered due to improperly declared hazardous material. Other triggers include being under sanctions, high counterfeiting rates, high-risk locations, instances of disease, and poor history of compliance.
Statutory Holds
This can be implemented when something unlawful is happening. This kind of hold leads to severe consequences. Importers may be subject to legal actions and hefty financial penalties. Import problems like IPR violations, trade agreement violations, prohibited good entry, and non-payment of taxes and duties can trigger a statutory hold.
Importing goods has lots of complexities. Importers can violate laws within import standards. Because of this, they should take advantage of consulting sessions that customs brokers offer. These brokers have spent several years looking into related laws.
