Stephanie Duong

The duty recovery process can vary in the time it takes. One entry might only take a few hours, whereas multiple entries can take longer. Once an issue is discovered that is protestable, it is good to look back at all of the shipments that have been imported over the past four years to see if there are more entries that can be incorporated into the duty recovery. Once the Protest is submitted to CBP (Customs and Border Protection) for review, it can take anywhere from one month to two years to receive the money-back.

Not at all. The Schedule B code refers to a coding system administered by the Foreign Trade Division in the US census bureau.

It is specifically used in the US to monitor a wide range of exports.

Typically, the B code has a total of ten digits, the first six making up the HS codes.

The extra four digits are essential in identifying and classifying the goods.

On the other hand, the HS code refers to a six-digit standard, commonly known as subheading used in the classification of goods for taxes and duties.

The HS numbers are constant across the globe and are administered by the World Customs Organization.

However, the B code is used solely in the US and administered by a body known as Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division for export statistics.

Another difference is for schedule B codes must be reported to shipments valued at more than $2500, or when consignment requires an export license.

HS codes, on the other hand, are used mostly in commercial invoices and other international export documentation.

FTA certificates/declarations are self-certified by a party who is knowledgeable about the transaction. Generally, this is the exporter of the product. The exporter may or may not be the producer. The producer, however, is in the best position to have the necessary knowledge about how a product qualifies under the rules of origin (ROO), as highlighted in the FTA Rules of Origin article. For this reason, a producer may be asked for an FTA certificate or declaration even if they are not the exporter.

The Export Invoice is been considered by the factoring agency or financial institute for discounting. The exporter, once the invoice is considered by the factoring agency, gets the money very fast, within a small span or say immediately. The Factoring agency later liquidates their own entry from the payment received from the importers directly in their accounts with all due consent upfront as per the process.The services are levied charges like 0.5%.

Despite many advantages, free trade policy has never been completely adopted by all the countries of the world. Particularly after the World War II, the policy was abandoned even by those who had previously adopted it. The following arguments are given against free trade policy.

Unrealistic Policy: Free trade policy is based on the assumption of laissez-faire or government non-in­tervention. Its success also requires the pre-condition of perfect competition. However, such conditions are unrealistic and do not exist in the actual world.

Non-Cooperation of Countries: Free trade policy works smoothly if all the countries cooperate with each other and follow this policy. If some countries decide to gain more by imposing import restrictions, the system of free trade cannot work.

Economic Dependence: Free trade increases the economic dependence on other countries for certain essential products such as food, raw materials, etc. Such dependence proves harmful particularly during wartime.

Political Slavery: Free trade leads to economic dependence and economic dependence leads to political slavery. For political freedom, economic independence is necessary. This requires abandonment of free trade.

Unbalanced Development: Free trade and the resultant international specialization lead to unbalanced development of national economy. Under this system, only those sectors are developed in which the country has a comparative advantage. Other sectors remain undeveloped. This results in lop-sided development.

Dumping: Free trade may lead to cutthroat competition and dumping. Under dumping, goods arc sold at very cheap rates and even below their cost of production in order to capture the foreign markets.

Harmful Products: Under free trade, injurious and harmful products may be produced and traded. Trade restrictions are necessary to check the import of such products.