1. What exactly does an import and export agency company do?

An import and export agency is a professional service organization holding AEO (Authorized Economic Operator) certification from customs, with its core functions including:

• Document compliance management: Prepare over 15 types of trade documents including customs declarations and certificates of origin.
• One-stop customs clearance services: A comprehensive customs clearance solution from pre-classification to tax payment
• Foreign trade risk management and control: Professional services such as handling customs audits and resolving trade disputes
• 32. Control of port demurrage (can be reduced by more than 30%): Integrate supply chain resources such as shipping companies, freight forwarders, and warehouses

2. What are the new changes in foreign trade policies in 2025 that will impact agency services?

According to the revised version of the International Trade Facilitation Agreement, which will take effect in 2025, agency services are exhibiting three major trends:

• Digital customs: The requirements for the integration with the Single Window of Customs have been upgraded to the API 4.0 standard.
• Green Trade Barriers: Additional environmental compliance requirements such as carbon footprint certification
• Regional Trade Agreements: The application rate of rules of origin under RCEP has increased to 83%.

3. How much can you save by using an agent compared to self-operated export?

Comprehensive cost savings achievable through professional agents:

• Explicit costs:
  • Document preparation fees reduced by 40-60%.
  • The incidence of demurrage fees has decreased by 75%.
• Hidden costs:
  • The acceleration of capital turnover resulting from a 30% improvement in customs clearance efficiency.
  • Preservation of goodwill resulting from reduced compliance risks

IV. How to Assess the Professionalism of an Agency?

7 Golden Criteria for Selecting High-Quality Proxies:

• Certification of Qualification: Must possess Customs AEO Advanced Certification.
• Industry focus: Operational experience with specific commodity HS codes >3 years
• The digital capacity: Real-time customs clearance tracking system coverage rate > 90%
• Risk prevention and control system: A complete trade compliance audit process must be established.
• Tax planning capability: Can you provideExport tax refundOptimization plan
• Emergency response：Customs inspection emergency channel response time < 2 hours
• Service Transparency: Break down the cost details to the level of customs broker handling fees.

V. How are goods in special customs supervision zones handled?

For bonded zones, free trade zones, and other special customs supervision areas, professional agents are required to provide:

• Ledger Management: The accuracy rate of electronic ledger verification must reach 99.8%.
• Batch Delivery and Consolidated Declaration: Keep the batch customs declaration error rate below 0.3%.
• Cross-border circulation: Timeliness commitment for intra-zone cargo transfer

6. What to do in case of trade disputes?

Dispute resolution mechanisms that high-quality agents should possess:

• Prevention in advance: Contract Terms Compliance Review
• In - process control: Real-time monitoring of trade term execution
• responded afterwards.: Professional legal team support (it is recommended to choose an agent with experience in handling DSU cases)