In everyday speech «clearance» covers everything at once: filing the declaration, paying the charges and collecting the cargo from the warehouse. In practice these are several separate stages, and the amount you will pay is settled long before the container reaches the terminal. Below is the order in which it all happens, and the points where money and time are usually lost.

The release procedure: seven steps

  1. The foreign trade contract. It must be signed and registered before you pay the supplier. What matters in the contract is the subject, the price, the Incoterms delivery terms, the deadlines and the payment arrangements — customs will check the invoice against it.
  2. Payment and shipment. The supplier issues the invoice and the packing list; the carrier issues the transport document: a CMR for road, a rail waybill, a bill of lading or an air waybill.
  3. Preliminary calculation. The payments can be calculated before the cargo arrives: the HS code, the customs value and the rates are all known. This is the moment to make sure the figure matches what you built into the price of the goods.
  4. Arrival and placement. The cargo enters the customs control zone or a temporary storage warehouse. From that moment the storage clock is running, and every idle day costs money.
  5. Filing the declaration. The declaration is filed electronically with the set of documents attached. The inspector checks the declared code, the value and the permits.
  6. Payments. Customs duty, VAT, excise where applicable and the customs processing fee. The money has to be on the account — the release will not start until the payments have gone through.
  7. Release. Once released, the cargo can be collected. If a risk profile is triggered, an inspection is added: the container is opened and the goods are checked against the description.

What the amount is made of

The charges are calculated not from the invoice total but from the customs value — the transaction price plus the costs incurred up to the border of Uzbekistan: transport, insurance, packaging, agents’ fees, licence payments. That is why identical goods on EXW and on DAP terms produce different amounts to pay.

  • Customs duty — depends on the HS code. For some headings the rate is zero, for others it is a noticeable share of the value.
  • Import VAT — the standard rate is 12 %, charged on the customs value together with the duty and the excise. Certain categories are exempt — exemptions are checked against the code, not against the name of the goods.
  • Excise — only for excisable goods.
  • The customs processing fee — calculated from the customs value; we confirm the rate in force on the date the declaration is filed.
  • Related costs — warehouse storage, handling, and in case of an inspection the unpacking and reloading, plus the broker’s fee.

Where the release usually stalls

In our experience physical inspection is far from the main reason for delay. Much more often the cargo waits because of the paperwork:

  • the invoice does not match the packing list on the number of packages or the weight;
  • the invoice states no delivery terms, or no currency;
  • the goods require a permit, and the application was only started after the cargo had arrived;
  • the payment terms in the contract differ from the way the money actually moved;
  • the declared code does not match the description and the technical characteristics of the goods.

Each of these is a one- or two-day matter if it is spotted in advance, and turns into a week of demurrage once the cargo is already sitting in the warehouse.

How long it takes

When the set of documents is complete and the permits were obtained in advance, release takes from a few hours to one working day. An inspection adds one or two days. A customs value adjustment or a classification dispute is a matter of weeks — which is exactly why we try to close both questions before the declaration is filed rather than after.

What to send us for an exact calculation

  • the invoice or the proforma;
  • the packing list;
  • a technical description of the goods, or better still a link to the manufacturer’s page;
  • the Incoterms delivery terms and the route;
  • the contract, if it has already been signed.

That is enough for us to name the HS code, calculate the payments and tell you which permits will be required. We send the calculation back within one working day — broken down line by line, not as a single figure.