Revealing the Inside Story of Beijing Import and Export Agency

“Mr. Zhang has been having a headache recently - medical devices worth 300,000 yuan are stuck at the customs, and the daily demurrage fee is as high as 5,000 yuan; Ms. Li's cross-border e-commerce orders were returned due to incorrect customs declaration forms, and she suffered heavy losses by missing the promotion season...” Such stories are being played out every day in the Beijing import and export agency industry. As the service hub for 70% of the foreign trade enterprises in the country, what unknown clearance secrets are hidden in the Beijing import and export agency market?

Beijing, as the city with the largest air import and export volume in the country (accounting for 38% of the total), is special in that: The Capital Airport port implements the “Three-Customs-in-One” supervision, and the passing rate of ordinary enterprises' self-declaration is less than 60%. Professional agencies such as Zhongshitong have three major advantages:

• The accuracy rate of pre-classification is 98% (data from the General Administration of Customs in 2022)
• The processing time of ATA Carnet is shortened to 1.5 working days
• The database of clearance solutions for difficult commodities covers 120,000 HS codes

An agency company in Chaoyang District had its qualification revoked last year due to false declaration, implicating 200 enterprises. Common risks include:

• Low-price Trap: Agencies whose customs declaration fees are 30% lower than the market price often charge “urgent fees” later.
• Qualification Forgery: Pay special attention to the agency licenses for special categories such as medical devices and cosmetics.
• Shifting of Responsibilities: There are “overbearing clauses” such as “the consequences of declaration shall be borne by the customer” in the contract.

In 2023, the Beijing Customs piloted the “Intelligent Customs Declaration” system, and leading agencies such as Zhongshitong have achieved:

• AI automatically identifies errors in customs declaration forms (with an accuracy rate of 91.2%)
• RCEP Certificate of Origin Intelligent Matching System
• Real-time tracking of the clearance status of goods at Terminal T3 of the Capital Airport

When the following signals appear, it is recommended to consult a professional agency immediately:

• The goods involve more than 3 supervision certificates.
• The monthly error rate of customs declaration exceeds 15%.
• The customs inspection cycle5.