Entry Visibility & Import Compliance - Two Things all Importers Need

Staying compliant as an importer is a complicated and time-consuming process. From making sure risks are minimized across your supply chain to complying with constantly changing Customs regulations — it takes a lot of effort to be compliant when importing.

Visibility into the supply chain, which includes entries that are either self-filed or by a service provider on behalf of your organization, is critical to managing the pre- and post-entry process. Today, most companies cannot rigorously audit entries filed, and when these audits are conducted it is only on a monthly or quarterly basis with less than 10% of all entries filed. Due to this infrequent and random checking of entries, importers may be overlooking errors and saving opportunities.

Is your company falling victim to these common entry filing errors?

1. Poor communication between the various departments of the importing company or between the importer and their service providers where assumptions are made that classification or valuation of imported material is complete and accurate.
2. Not correctly identifying items such as material components, molds, equipment, tools, etc. that the importer has provided to a foreign manufacturer to use in producing the imported merchandise causes manufacturing assists errors on entries.
3. Importers not maintaining and producing timely records required at time of entry such as accounting and financial records that support the value, quantities, and classification information to ensure entry documents are correct.
4. Claims for duty preference (such as NAFTA or GSP) being incorrectly classified, which leads to the importer providing poor descriptions of merchandise or not notifying all parties when product specifications change.
5. Not properly monitoring use of special trade programs, which leads to importers not verifying that foreign manufacturers or producers can support claims for special trade programs.

Integration Point® Entry Visibility provides importers with the tools to ensure all entries filed are validated on a frequent basis. Plus Integration Point Entry Visibility eliminates the most common errors made by importers during the entry process.

Gaining visibility into entry filings can be a daunting task. As shown by the errors that US CBP has found in the majority of entries filed, importers today are still lacking the tools to fully validate their entries. Integration Point Entry Visibility not only provides those tools to eliminate those errors, but also allows importers to cross-reference their entries with up-to-date trade regulations from across the globe.

Using Entry Visibility, importers check data in their entries to verify that classification data is correct, applicable free trade agreement benefits are utilized, and quantities used to calculate duties are accurate. Entry Visibility also assists importers with the post-entry amendment and reconciliation processes by quickly identifying entries requiring updates and facilitating corrections and adjustments.

Entry Visibility can be utilized by importers who self-file, use third-party customs brokers, or by the brokers themselves. Importers using Entry Visibility are able to:

• Automate the time-consuming and manual process of verifying entry data
• Implement a comprehensive entry audit process
• Realize lost duty savings opportunities due to misclassifications on entries
• Track entry versions and broker communication
• Satisfy requirements for government regulations and initiatives such as the US Modernization Act (Mod Act) and ISA
• Retain all documents electronically that are associated with entries
• Improve and meet record keeping requirements
• Begin the post-entry amendment and reconciliation processes
• Integrate with the Integration Point Global Classification Software for product classification data

Interested in learning more about Integration Point Entry Visibility? Please fill out our online request form, or send us an email. You can also download our product brochure located in the top right corner of this page.