Keep Your Supply Chain Sweet This Halloween
Food products face strict controls, and even the smallest error can cause a big delay at the border. And when you’re importing foodstuffs for seasonal events like Halloween, timing is critical.
From confectionery to pumpkins, Customs Support Group helps you to avoid border frights and keep your supply chain sweet. Here are five food customs tricks to watch out for this Halloween, and how we can help you stay compliant, on time, and in control.
Contents:
Different Phytosanitary Requirements
Growers and traders must comply with the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM), which is proven with Phytosanitary certificates. These must accompany all shipments.
However, interpretations of the ISPM can vary depending on the product you are trading and where it’s coming from. For example, different plants have targeted measures surrounding the need to eradicate pests.
For your Halloween pumpkin, the targets are “cucumber green mottle mosaic virus” and “Tetranychus kanzawai”. There are six methods for confirming compliance, including “country free” as a waiver for pumpkins of certain origins.
Customs Support Group helps you stay compliant as requirements change. Whether it’s checking your documentation with you pre-arrival, processing end-to-end customs clearances for quick and compliant EU/UK clearance, or helping you perform due diligence – we’ll keep you moving with minimal risk or delay. Contact us for more information.
Extra Documents for Seeds
If your goods include seeds or sprouts, you might need a separate certificate — even if you already have a phytosanitary one. The inclusion of this document may not be required on your import declaration, but the absence of this document during inspection could mean your goods are refused at the border.
Customs Support Group supports you with a compliance-first mindset, working to protect you throughout the customs process and not just when completing the clearance declaration. During your goods classification, we cover all documentation requirements so you and your supplier have everything in place before there is a problem.
What’s more, you can keep track of all of your documents inside your secure customer portal – giving you quick access to the documents you need when time is of the essence. Get in touch to safeguard your border processes today.
A Changing or Longer Commodity Code
The correct goods classification is key to getting your customs right, yet it’s so easy to get wrong with foodstuffs. Ingredients, package sizes, carbonated or non-carbonated – they can all mean a different code, and the same product can have a different classification from one country to another.
Even within the same country, your base code can be the same for two products with the same ingredients, but still be different because of the quantities of those ingredients.
For example, many countries within Europe add extra digits to their standard commodity code depending on the concentration of sugar within a beverage. This is both for statistical and import duty calculations.
Customs Support Group helps you get your classification right from the start, and provides help with obtaining binding tariff information so that you can be sure your classification is correct. Additionally, our solutions help you to map commodity codes and tax rates globally so that you can save time, reduce errors, and make business decisions with confidence. Contact us to obtain clarity today.
Don’t Get Egged!
If you’re moving cookies, cakes, and other baked goods which may contain eggs, the origin of those eggs matters. Even if your goods have been baked in a country which is deemed safe, you can still have your foodstuffs rejected if the eggs are found to come from another country.
When you are working with Customs Support Group, we ask you these questions ahead of time. If there is something inside your processed foods which could cause an issue, you can rely on us to help you identify and resolve it. Contact us to help minimise your risk.
Banned Ingredients
As well as banned origins, some ingredients are completely prohibited in some countries.
For example, when importing trick or treat confectionery, you may miss that additive E425 (konjac gum) is prohibited in the EU because of the risk of choking. If E425 or konjac gum is found to be an ingredient in your jelly sweets, then your shipment will be rejected at the border.
Customs Support Group helps you to avoid expensive, avoidable mistakes like these by working with you during the classification process to identify potential problems. Contact us for a customs health check today.
Keep Your Supply Chain Sweet with Customs Support Group
Customs Support Group is Europe’s leading provider of customs and trade solutions, helping you to move goods globally whilst remaining efficient and compliant.
Supported by our network of offices in 14 countries throughout Europe, we keep your food supply chain running on time with minimal disruption at the border. No tricks, only trade.
If you could benefit from customs services in the EU, UK, Norway, or Switzerland, need advice on keeping your food supply chain compliant, or want to see how our solutions can unlock the performance improvements hidden inside your customs function, contact us for more information.
