- Roles and responsibilities of freight forwarders, transportation service providers, 3PLs, and customs brokers have become blurred
- Many transportation and logistics service providers offer to perform customs-related tasks for clients
- US Customs and Border Protection released a ruling stating that a logistics provider did not qualify as the importer of record due to insufficient financial interest in the goods
- Importer of record is responsible for ensuring imported goods comply with customs and legal requirements
- Owner, purchaser, or designated individual can be importer of record
- Financial interest, rather than just custodial interest, is required to qualify as importer of record
- In a specific case, a logistics provider did not have sufficient financial interest to be importer of record
- Logistics provider had a security interest in the goods contingent on the buyer’s failure to pay
- CBP ruled that the logistics provider incorrectly acted as importer of record due to lack of financial interest in the goods
Source: lexology.com
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
