Customs broking

A customs agent ( Customs Agency ) takes care of the customs clearance of goods on behalf of a Wirtschaftsbeteiltigen (eg the consignor, forwarder or logistics company). He is also known as Customs Broker (U.S.) or Customs Agent ( EU).

The customs agent is not an apprenticeship in Germany. I.d.R. there are merchants of various disciplines that specialize as a customs agent. This is done either by learning the operation of a customs broker and / or training in most private educational institutions.

Smaller customs agents usually focus on a particular border crossing (eg Germany - Switzerland ) or a particular region and are in close contact with the customs authorities. Larger customs agents are represented at several key locations (such as Hamburg and Frankfurt / Main) and have the pure service of customs clearance addition, other logistic services in the portfolio.

Duties of customs agents

The customs agent serves all activities that may be associated with a clearance related. In this case, there are often interdisciplinary links with other institutions (eg Chamber of Commerce, BAFA, STABA ) The following activities can be understood as frequently occurring standard activities, but are by no means complete.

• Import and export formalities
• Export clearance
• Consulting in customs and foreign trade issues
• Customs Clearance for free movement of non-Community goods
• Manual Einzelverzollungen
• Collecting customs declarations
• Computer-aided applications via Atlas
• Customs procedures with economic impact (for example, processing operations )
• Statistical applications ( Intrastat)
• Temporary import and export
• Listings for VAT returns and quarterly reports
• Disposition and neutralization at the borders
• Creation of transit documents
• Applying for licenses and monitoring documents
• Application for binding tariff information
• Fiskalvertetung
• Organization of customs controls and veterinary checks
• Performing customs warehouses

• Logistics
• Customs