CBP Customs Audit 2026: How AI Targeting Works and What to Do Now
The numbers define the scale of what is happening. In FY2024, CBP collected $117.7 million from importer audits across the full year. By June 2025, FY25 collections had already reached $192.77 million from 348 completed audits, with $37.88 million of that from penalties and liquidated damages alone. The full FY2025 figure reached $235.46 million according […]
ICS2 Stop Words 2026: Why Your EU Customs Description Is Getting Rejected and Exactly What to File Instead
An ICS2 stop words 2026 rejection does not announce itself in advance. The booking was confirmed. The freight forwarder filed the Entry Summary Declaration before the goods arrived at the EU border. And then the ICS2 Common Repository rejected the filing automatically. The goods are held. The delivery window is missed. The IT hardware sitting […]
How to Import IT Equipment Into India Without a Local Entity
India is building data centres, deploying enterprise IT infrastructure, and expanding cloud campuses faster than any other major economy in 2026. The companies supplying that infrastructure, including US technology distributors, UK IT resellers, Asian hardware manufacturers, and global enterprise vendors, all face the same question when they win an Indian contract: how do we ship […]
Why Your Import Freight Bill Is Higher Than Contract in 2026: What Every IT and Equipment Importer Must Understand
Every IT importer, data centre operator, and equipment company that has seen freight invoices exceed contracted rates in 2026 started in the same place: a signed contract that seemed to provide protection. It gave you a rate. You built your landed cost model, your pricing, and your project budgets around that rate. Your finance director […]
How to Import IT Equipment Into Germany Without a Local Entity
Germany is the most important EU destination for IT equipment imports and often the first or early-stage market for technology companies expanding into continental Europe. A US company deploying server racks to a Frankfurt data centre, a UK IT reseller shipping networking equipment to a Munich enterprise customer, or an Asian hardware manufacturer supplying a […]
Paper IOR vs Operational IOR: Why the Difference Could Cost You Your Shipment
Every month, companies around the world book an IOR service without knowing the choice they are really making, move their goods, and discover at the destination port that the IOR they appointed has no genuine standing to import their product in that country. The customs declaration names an entity that does not hold the required […]
How to Import Medical Devices Without Local Entity: The Complete IOR Guide for 8 Key Markets
Every organisation expanding its global medtech footprint faces the same question: can we import medical devices without local entity registration in every destination market? The answer in most markets is yes, provided you appoint a specialist Importer of Record with established regulatory standing in each destination country. Medical devices carry a compliance burden that standard […]
Container Price Fixing 2026: DOJ Indicts CIMC, Singamas, Dong Fang and CXIC: What Every Importer Must Know
On May 19, 2026, the container price fixing 2026 indictment was unsealed by the US Department of Justice, explaining something every importer had lived through but could not fully account for: why container prices doubled, then tripled, then stayed elevated long after pandemic demand subsided. The answer, according to federal prosecutors, was not market forces. […]
China Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law 2026: What Every Importer of DG From China Must Know
On May 1, 2026, the China hazardous chemicals safety law 2026 came into force. Passed by the 19th Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress on December 27, 2025, it is China’s first standalone law dedicated to the safety management of hazardous chemicals across their entire lifecycle. For companies importing goods […]
IMDG Amendment 42-24: China Dangerous Goods Shipping Rules Are Live : What Every Importer Must Know
On January 1, 2026, IMDG Amendment 42-24 became mandatory for all ocean freight shipments worldwide. For companies importing battery-powered products, electric vehicles, e-bikes, e-scooters, lithium batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and energy storage systems from China, this is not a minor technical update. It is a structural change to how every one of those shipments must be […]