Customs Broking
Customs brokers are people performing "clearing" of goods through customs barriers for importers, exporters, and business companies. This involves the preparation of documents and/or electronic submissions, the calculation and payment of taxes, duties and excises, and facilitating communication between government authorities and importers and exporters.
Custom brokers may be employed by or affiliated with freight forwarders, independent businesses, or shipping lines, importers, exporters, trade authorities, and customs brokerage firms.
What a Customs Broker Does
Customs brokers are the ones who are responsible for advising shippers about importing and exporting goods into the country. These agents are frequently used by those looking to ship goods overseas commercially or receive international goods from other countries.
The most important functions of customs brokers can be broken down into a few key activities:
- Providing information to businesses that export goods to help them successfully get their shipments out of the country to customers in different parts of the world
- Helping organisations complete the necessary paperwork that is required by the Australian government to ship their goods out of the country
- Assisting with the process of importing goods successfully by making sure that the shipments in question are able to clear customs
- Keeping up to date on all of the latest tariffs and fees that need to be paid by businesses in Australia that are looking to conduct international trade.
Every country has its own rules for customs brokerage.
For example, US Customs broker licenses are issued and overseen by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). To be eligible to obtain for a US Customs broker license a pesron must pass the US Customs Broker License Exam (CBLE).
But for customs brokers and clearing agents operating within the European Union, there is no licensing system.
Singapore broadly follows the European Union model in that the importer or exporter of record remains liable for the correct and timely declaration of shipments. It is also however then similar to the US and Australia in requiring the person making the customs declaration to be registered and to have passed competency tests.
So it will better to check out your country's requirements for customs brokers when working with them.
