I.Agency export,Will the business be held accountable by customs for incomplete documents?

According to the 2025 Customs Administrative Penalty Implementation Regulations, both the principal and the agent shall bear legal liability in agency export business if the following situations occur:

• Missing documents for more than 3 working days: Need to submit completecustoms clearancedocuments, contracts, invoices and other files
• Commodity code classification errors exceeding 2 tariff levels: May trigger classification inquiry procedures
• Export tax refundUncanceled connection: Failure to cancel within 90 days will affect corporate credit rating

Taking a medical device export case as an example, the agency company failed to submit FDA certification documents in time, resulting in the entire container of goods being detained at the port for 21 days, ultimately incurring demurrage fees and an administrative penalty of 10% of the cargo value.

What emergency measures should be taken when discovering violations by the agency company?

It is recommended to follow these steps for crisis handling:

• Step 1: Secure the evidence chain
  • Save scanned copies of customs declaration pre-records
  • Retain freight agent receipt documents
  • Back up email correspondence and chat records
• Step 2: Initiate compliance review
  • Commission third-party institutions for trade audits
  • Compare customs declaration forms with real contract terms
  • Verify VAT invoice certification status
• Step 3: Proactively report and correct errors
  • Submit a statement of circumstances before customs detection
  • Seek penalty reduction through the "voluntary disclosure" procedure.
  • Re-declaration must be completed before goods depart

What long-term impacts will non-compliant agency behaviors bring?

Based on analysis of our service database covering 368 foreign trade enterprises, non-compliant agency may lead to:

• Downgrade of customs credit rating: AEO-certified enterprises may have qualifications revoked
• Export tax refundQualification suspension: Up to 24-month observation period
• Risk of supply chain disruption: 72% of enterprises experienced container detention by shipping companies
• Cross-border payment restrictions: Companies on SAFEs blacklist cannot receive normal foreign exchange payments

A textile exporter faced not only recovery of tax rebates due to fabric composition misrepresentation by their agent, but also termination of a $2 million annual order from European clients.

IV. How to select compliant and reliableExport agentThe service provider?

Recommend screening from these 5 dimensions:

• Qualification review: Customs AEO certification, SAFE directory-listed enterprises
• System connectivity capacity: Supports real-time electronic port data queries
• Wind control system: Whether ISO37301 compliance management system is established
• Case verification: Requires proof of no violations in past 3 years
• Insurance coverage: Professional liability insurance coverage recommended no less than 5 million yuan

Pay special attention to verifying the "Single Window" operation records of the agency companies. The average monthly customs declaration error rate for compliant enterprises should be below 0.8%.

What compliance firewalls should companies establish themselves?

Our "Three-tier Compliance Control System" designed for foreign trade enterprises includes:

• Prevented Prevention
  • Dual verification of key customs declaration data
  • Establishment of product database (with HS CODE dynamic updates)
• Monitoring of the matter.
  • Installation of customs data query terminals
  • Logistics trajectory anomaly alerts
• Subsequent audit
  • Quarterly trade compliance audits
  • Annual third-party compliance assessments

Through this system, an auto parts exporter reduced its customs declaration error rate from 5.7% to 0.3% within three years and obtained the "Authorized Economic Operator" certification from customs.