If U.S. Customs decides to pay you a visit, will you be prepared? If you’re not complying with applicable laws and regulations, you could be facing some hefty monetary fines, seized shipments and maybe even jail time. No one wants to be in that situation, and now more than ever it’s imperative that importers and […]

Freight quote. Check! Duty rate. Check! Commercial Documents. Check! As importers tick items off their shipment checklist, one of the most important tasks is purchasing a Customs bond – and setting it up right. Customs bonds are required for all importers and are necessary for you to act as the importer of record for your […]

Importing set breakdowns to the United States comes with its own set of customs requirements; Shapiro is set on making this easy for you! See what we did there? Customs requires importers to not only declare the set within their Customs entry, but also each component of the set. Shapiro needs to know the weights […]

If you’ve been living under a rock since 2005 or aren’t fluent in compliance geek, you’re likely not aware of the International Standards of Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM 15) Regulation of wood packaging material in international trade, which we wanted to bring to your attention as U.S. Customs has plans to start issuing lofty violations against […]

To our fellow food importers, Many of you may have heard that FDA is imposing yet another program in 2017 called Foreign Supplier Verification (FSVP) Program. Don’t stress. Shapiro is here to make sure you are compliantly prepared.  We’re guessing you have some questions, so we’ve compiled an FSVP FAQ guide to help: What is FSVP? […]

Customs now has a solid new platform of visibility called Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). They also have established commodity specialists and developed commodity Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEE). These entities have much more access to information—and are extraordinarily informed about commodities—much, much more informed than they have ever been. This is especially true because […]

It’s the ole’ Trojan horse scenario. Just when you think Customs is being helpful sending out Informed Compliance Letters to your business with information to “assist” your company with ensuring compliance, they will state in the document that since this information has been provided to your company, violations that may occur in the future could […]

Technology is wonderful.  No one will deny that.  It allows us to shift black-and-white tedious work to a program, so we can focus on what is truly complicated and worthy of our delightful human brain. Let’s talk about freight calculators for a moment.  We move cargo from point A to point B (like human airfare […]

NO!  WHY ME?! Just a few phrases you may use when a shipment gets pulled for a customs examination, or if you’ve been in this industry long enough, it’s more like a slew of curse words that you wouldn’t dare speak in front of your mom. But don’t worry, Shapiro is here to clear things up. […]

So there you are, going about your (crazy) business, and out of nowhere, your boss asks, “Hey, what if we started to self-file our Customs entries and did it all in-house? Wouldn’t that save us a lot of money?” Your world seems to temporarily collapse and you can’t breathe properly. How do you even begin […]

After three decades providing Customs brokerage services, I’ve come across some strange shipments (at my first employer, we had regular shipments of sand to Saudi Arabia) and stranger people, but that’s for another day. In this blog, I’d like to share some of the more fascinating and odd facts of our import world. Did you […]

Importing can be tough.  There are so many rules and regulations for importers to keep track of that it can be easy to forget all of the information that’s required for a Customs entry.  One of the most important documents brokers need for writing entries is the commercial invoice.  Without an invoice, we would have […]

When was the last time you took a long, hard look at your trade compliance program? What compliance program? Perhaps you work for a company where you wear multiple hats – purchasing, logistics, and oh yes, take care of that Customs stuff, too. Your priorities may depend on your reporting structure. If you report to […]

I sincerely hope this does not shock anyone but recordkeeping is not only for importers!  Exporters must maintain records as proof of compliance with U.S. government regulations for a minimum of 5 years. If Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Census, or any other U.S. Government Agency that […]

The Importer Security Filing (ISF) began in January 2009 with a one-year introductory phase-in period. Full enforcement began in January 2010, but Customs and Border Protection (CBP) maintained a flexible and measured enforcement stance. Penalty guidelines were published in July 2009, but Customs held off doing anything until July 2013 when they announced they would […]

As a lover of all wines good and as a budding hobbyist and neophyte collector of Italian (Piedmont, Tuscany, and Umbria regions),  French (Rhone region), Spanish (Murcia and Rioja regions), and Washington State (Columbia Valley) varietals, I can’t seem to get enough of the culture, industry personalities, and business mechanics of my new found passion.  […]

“My competitors don’t pay duty.” Boy, if I had a dollar for every time I have heard this over my career, I would not need to worry about my kids’ college tuitions. How does an importer know for sure that the competition is not paying duty? Customs entry information is strictly confidential and not even […]

As the ETA of your freight approaches, your palms start to sweat, you begin to pace your office, hit the refresh button on the tracking website, and start calling your professional Customs broker every hour on the hour.  The underlying fears…will your freight be snagged for examination?! Cue dramatic music. Importers have come to know […]

What sets your company apart? If you are like us, you will say “service.” Great, consistent service builds trust, which is the foundation of any relationship. A nurtured relationship builds loyalty and that loyalty generates repeat and referral business. And, if we are not talking money, that feeling you get when you make your customer’s day is pretty darn good, too. (It’s kind of the thing we live for, actually.) So how can you build stronger, more meaningful relationships with your customers?