Customs glossary

The 30 terms cited most often across goodsacrossborders.com — each definition is sourced, dated, and cross-linked to the rules and guides that use it.

• ATA Carnet
  An international customs document that lets goods cross borders temporarily without paying duty or VAT.
• Bonded warehouse
  A facility licensed by customs to store imported goods without paying duty until they're released into the host country or re-exported.
• BTI
  A legally-binding customs ruling on the HS classification of a specific product, issued by EU member-state customs authorities.
• Certificate of Origin
  The document that proves where goods were made, used to claim preferential FTA tariff rates or for country-of-origin marking.
• CIF
  An Incoterm where the seller pays cost, insurance, and freight to the destination port; risk transfers when goods are loaded on the vessel at origin.
• CITES
  The international treaty governing cross-border trade in protected wildlife.
• Customs bond
  A surety guarantee that duty and tax will be paid on imported goods.
• Customs broker
  A licensed agent who files customs entries on behalf of importers and arranges duty payment.
• Customs declaration form
  The form a traveller fills in on entry to declare goods, currency, food, and other reportable items.
• DDP
  An Incoterm where the seller bears all costs and risks including import duty, taxes, and delivery to the buyer's premises.
• De minimis
  The value below which a country waives import duty and/or tax on individual shipments.
• Dual-use goods
  Goods, software, and technology that have both civilian and potential military or proliferation applications, subject to export controls.
• EHC
  An official veterinary document certifying that animal-origin food shipments meet the destination's animal-health and public-health standards.
• End-use certificate
  A document declaring who will use a controlled export item and for what purpose, required for dual-use and military-list exports.
• EORI number
  The unique customs identifier for any business importing into or exporting from the EU or UK.
• EXW
  An Incoterm where the seller makes goods available at their premises; the buyer handles everything else.
• FOB
  An Incoterm where the seller delivers goods loaded onto the vessel at the origin port; risk and cost transfer there.
• Free Trade Zone
  A designated area where goods can be stored, processed, or re-exported without paying import duty until they enter the host country's customs territory.
• FTA
  A reciprocal treaty between two or more countries that reduces or eliminates tariffs on qualifying goods.
• GSP
  A unilateral preferential tariff regime under which developed countries grant lower duty rates to imports from designated developing countries.
• HS code
  The international six-digit classification code that customs authorities use to identify every traded product.
• HTS
  The 10-digit tariff classification system used by US Customs.
• Incoterms
  The standard three-letter trade terms (e.g. FOB, CIF, DDP) that allocate cost and risk between buyer and seller across an international shipment.
• IOSS
  The EU VAT scheme that lets non-EU sellers collect EU VAT at sale on consignments under EUR 150 instead of at customs.
• MFN tariff
  The standard tariff rate a country applies to imports from WTO member states without an FTA.
• MRN
  The unique tracking number assigned by EU/UK customs to every electronic declaration.
• OSS
  The EU VAT scheme for cross-border B2C sales within the EU above EUR 10,000 / year.
• Phytosanitary certificate
  An official document certifying that plants or plant products are free from regulated pests and comply with the destination's plant-health rules.
• REX
  An EU system that lets exporters self-certify origin for FTA preferential-tariff claims above EUR 6,000.
• Rules of Origin
  The criteria that determine where goods 'originate' for preferential tariff purposes under a free trade agreement.