Customs management and trade preference

Customs management in GTS creates and communicates customs declarations: export declarations for outbound goods, import declarations for inbound goods, transit procedures, and special procedures such as the US foreign-trade zone (FTZ) or EU customs warehousing. It also calculates duties where the procedure needs it. Preference management determines whether products qualify as originating under a trade agreement, so customers can claim lower duties, and manages supplier declarations that support that determination.

Exports and imports at Contoso

In the US, exporters file Electronic Export Information (EEI) through the Automated Export System in ACE when a shipment requires it; Mexico requires an import declaration (pedimento) filed by a licensed customs broker. Contoso uses brokers on both sides of the border. GTS can still play a central role with brokers: SAP's guide describes scenarios for integrating customs brokers for exports and imports, with GTS holding the declaration data and the broker filing with the authority. Which national procedures your release supports, and how, must be checked in the guide for your country and release.

Preference: USMCA and origin

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) gives preferential duty treatment to goods that meet its rules of origin. Whether CMC-ALT-100 qualifies depends on its bill of materials, the origin of components such as the rotor CMC-RTR-200 and the stator, and the agreement's product-specific rule. GTS preference management aggregates bill of materials data and supplier declarations, then runs preference determination. SAP's user guide describes inbound and outbound long-term supplier's declarations, aggregation and preference determination; much of the delivered content is shaped by EU procedures, so confirm how your release supports USMCA certification before you design around it.

Worked example: origin of CMC-ALT-100

Illustrative course data: CMC-ALT-100 is assembled in Detroit from the rotor CMC-RTR-200 (Lakeside Components, US), the stator CMC-STA-300 (US), the housing CMC-HSG-400 (imported from outside North America) and the fastener kit CMC-FST-010. Lakeside provides a long-term supplier declaration that the rotor originates in the US. If the housing's tariff classification differs enough from the alternator's, a tariff-shift rule may still be met; if the rule requires regional value content, the non-originating housing value counts against it. The rule itself comes from the agreement text, not from SAP. GTS calculates; trade counsel decides the rule.

What to verify in customs

• Trigger: the declaration is created from the right event (goods issue for exports, inbound delivery or goods receipt for imports) and only for cross-border flows.
• Content: tariff numbers, quantities, values, currency, country of origin and parties match the delivery and the invoice.
• Values: the customs value reconciles with the billing document; for Great Lakes-style domestic sales no declaration is created at all.
• Communication: the broker receives the data and returns a status or reference that is stored on the declaration.
• Exceptions: cancelled deliveries cancel or correct the declaration; overdue exit confirmations appear in monitoring.

Values are where customs and finance meet. If an intercompany transfer price changes, the customs value changes with it, and an under-declared value is a customs offense even if the goods never leave the group. Dan and Ingrid agree the valuation rule for Detroit-to-Monterrey flows before the first test cycle, and the tests check it with numbers.