With the constant increase in commercial demand in Mexico, countless companies have found it necessary to globalize their purchasing operations. Importing products for distribution inside and outside the national territory, as well as exporting any resource produced by local companies, has become the guarantee of success for companies; not only because of the low cost it represents, but also because of the high quality of the products obtained and the speed with which they are acquired.
For that reason, in recent years the volume handled by a customs agency has increased exponentially, and new organizations willing to facilitate each of the processes a company must carry out to acquire its goods from abroad appear every day.
If you own a company and are unsure whether you should import and export goods yourself or hire the services of a customs agency, in this article you can review in detail each of the functions these companies perform, so that with that knowledge you can make a decision based on your company's possibilities.
What happens every day inside a customs agency
Customs brokers handle foreign trade activities for many companies; that is why the procedure they carry out for each operation is highly complex and specialized. First, they must manage the customs entries (pedimentos) and the sea, land or air shipping documents, as well as the insurance policies that will protect the shipment to be imported or exported.
Next, the agency prepares and transmits the relevant customs declarations, while monitoring the success of the procedures assigned to the port operator and the transport company in charge of the goods; it also provides them with the necessary documents and the cargo manifest for the international movement of the goods before the authorities.
Within a short period of time, the customs agency must also make sure that your shipment obtains the necessary approvals to be shipped successfully, and that the documents previously declared to the competent authority are approved. Once everything is in order, it will begin the arrangements for loading the goods and will report this to the authority and to its client.
During the journey from origin to destination, the customs broker constantly monitors changes in the status of the shipment, intervening immediately in the event of any emergency. This constant monitoring ends when the shipment arrives at its port of destination. At this stage, the customs broker handles all the customs procedures for receipt, entry, payments and authorizations, as well as the logistics management for the consignee.
Entities a customs agency interacts with
To carry out all the functions of a customs agency, the company's staff must constantly interact with other Mexican public and private organizations that are essential for importing and exporting goods. The main ones are:
Areas in which a customs agency specializes
A customs broker specializes mainly in the fundamentals of foreign trade, import and export laws, the tax obligations of the countries of origin and destination, alliances with the various companies involved in this activity, and knowledge of the trade agreements between the countries where the shipping and receiving procedures will take place.
It also covers the logistics activities carried out before, during and after importing and exporting for a client, including verification, inspection, packaging, storage and distribution. It also provides advice on the tariff classification of each shipment and on the procedures an importer or exporter must follow before the customs offices at each location in the country.
In addition, the customs agency plays a major role in combating the smuggling of illegal goods, prevents fraud, reduces money laundering and promotes compliance with foreign trade laws and other tax regulations established to regulate this activity within the national territory.
Benefits of hiring a customs agency
If you are still not sure whether you should hire the services of a customs agency, we will show you some additional benefits you will obtain if you decide to outsource these large-scale operations.
There is no doubt that foreign trade activities are truly complicated. Nor is it wrong to say that if a company were to fully optimize its import and export activities, its productivity would soar, allowing it to think about new strategies for growth and expansion.
A customs agency can become the key piece you need to fully achieve your business objectives.
