Hi I’m Cliff Ennico, Legal Editor of SBTV.com with some tips on launching an import business. So you and your spouse take a trip to the gorgeous Mediterranean Island of Sicily, you’re hiking among the mountains near Mount Etna and you find a wonderful little local Sicilian Winery that makes absolutely the best vino di tavola you’ve ever had in your life.
They’ve also got some artisanal cheeses and some wonderful gourmet items and over this wonderful lunch, you and your spouse get this great idea. You know hey, there’s nothing like this here in the States, let’s act as an agent for this company. Let’s act as their North American agent and help this little winery develop a market for their products in the US and Canada. Well congratulations, you’ve just decided to enter into the import business and there are some things you need to know whenever you’re setting up an import business.
First of all, you’re going to need some books and there are a couple of books that I specifically recommend for importers. Number one is a book that is published by the US Custom Service. It’s called “Importing into the United States.” It’s available wherever books are sold on Amazon.com or your local bookstore. It will set you back about 15 bucks. This is the bible of US import rules and regulations dealing with customs, getting licenses, all the issues that importers need to know in very plain English and specifically designed for the small business market so I would definitely start with that one. Read it cover to cover.
The second book you want to get is a book by a gentleman named Thomas Johnson and the book is called “Export/Import Procedures and Documentation.” Now I know that’s a mouthful. It’s also an expensive book too. It will probably cost you $80.00 or $90.00 in most bookstores but it’s a good book to have.
This is a training manual for corporate employees who are engaged in import and export activities. What Mr. Johnson does, he gives you lots of examples of how to fill out the customs forms, the import documentation, the bills of lading in both right ways and wrong ways too. He actually shows you some of the more common mistakes that people make when filling out these forms. It’s a wonderful book to have and it’s also fully deductible so those are the two books that I would start out with and of course there are a lot of other import/export books. There’s an “Import/Export for Dummies” for example. By all means, read as much as you can because the rules on importing are pretty byzantine especially here in the United States.
Okay, so now you’ve educated yourself on importing. The second thing you need are some licenses. For certain products and commodities, you need a license to import these things into the United States. So for example, to import wine from Sicily or indeed anywhere else, you probably will need a federal importers permit from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. That’s almost a certainty.
Some of those artisanal cheeses for example, if they are made with raw milk, you’re probably going to have to comply with USDA regulations to bring those into the country. In fact, you might not even be able to bring some of those cheeses into the country at all. Some of you know the famous Serrano ham in Spain can not be imported into the US because it doesn’t meet USDA inspections standards.
So these are the things you have to know before you bring any kind of food item or agricultural product into the US. The USDA is probably going to be involved. Okay, so you’ve got your book, you’ve got your licenses, now you need a customs broker. The rule in virtually every country is that importers are the ones who have to comply with customs in a particular country so when you bring something here into the United States, it’s you that have to comply with US Customs Laws and Regulations. You can’t pass that off to the Sicilian Winery in my example. This is something you have to do yourself and the US Customs rules are byzantine in their complexity.
My advice to you is do not try to do this yourself, get a customs broker to help you. Where do you find these people? Well, believe it or not, there’s a trade association of customs brokers, it’s called the National Association of Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders. Their website is www.ncbfaa.org. If you go to the website, there’s a box where you can type in your zip code and it will give a list of customs brokers in your area that you can contact.
Another good place to find local customs brokers is your local trade association; International Trade Association. Virtually, every state and most major cities especially port cities, cities near water fronts have a local world trade or international trade association but I would recommend you joining any of them. When you’re looking for customs brokers or you’re just getting started in the import business where the best piece of advice I could give you join your local world trade association. They have wonderful resources to help you get off the ground and help you avoid some of the dumbest mistakes people make when they first get into the importing business.
To find these folks, believe it or not, they have a trade association as well. It’s the Federation of International Trade Associations. The website is www.fita.org or you can simply Google the name of your state followed by the phrase world trade association or International Trade Association, you’ll probably find your local trade association that way.
Once you’ve done that, you’ve done it by as much as anybody can to get into the import business, good luck and bon appetit. I’m Cliff Ennico for SBTV.com.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services