19 U.S.C. 1484 lets the owner or purchaser of the goods make a US customs entry, or a licensed customs broker the owner, purchaser or consignee has designated, and the importer of record must be one of those eligible parties. A seller with no company in the destination country, or a project that cannot wait for one to be registered, can hire a provider that qualifies. Importer of record services sell exactly that.
Whose name goes on a US entry
The entry must be made with “reasonable care”, the same section says. A nonresident corporation entering goods for consumption also needs a resident agent in the state of the port of entry, able to accept service of process, and a bond on CBP Form 301 with a resident corporate surety (19 CFR 141.18). Importivity describes the service as a US company that puts its own name and bond on your entry for a fee.
The importer of record number comes from CBP Form 5106. The form asks for the importer’s name, an EIN, SSN or CBP-assigned number, a mailing address, a physical address if that differs, a phone number and an email. Since 18 September 2026 CBP has been enforcing accuracy (notice 91 FR 53627): a number with incomplete or inaccurate data is voided, and a voided number is invalid for any purpose, entering goods included. The physical address cannot be a registered agent, a broker, a freight forwarder, a P.O. box or a business service center. Email and phone have to be the importer’s own.
More is coming, and part of it is still direction to agencies. RSM’s summary of Executive Order 14411 (3 June 2026) lists a ban on informal entries by foreign importers, limits on continuous bonds, a CTPAT requirement and higher domestic asset expectations, and says CBP will roll the changes out over 45, 90 and 180 days.
In the EU, the declarant owes the duty
The Union Customs Code in force today is Regulation 952/2013, and it is on its way out. Regulation 2026/2108 repeals it and was published on 19 September 2026. The Commission speaks of clearer responsibilities for importers, and Frucom reports that Member States start applying it from 21 September 2027. The law firm Guyader, in its reading of the text, says the declarant gives way to a single importer who bears every obligation, and that an indirect representative of a non-EU client becomes the importer itself (Guyader, updated 28 September 2026). Until then the articles below still describe the role. A declaration may be lodged by a person able to provide all the information the procedure requires. The declarant has to be established in the Union. Exceptions cover transit, temporary admission, occasional declarations the customs authorities consider justified, and border-adjacent cases under reciprocity (Article 170). A customs representative acts either directly, in another person’s name, or indirectly, in its own name for another person, and in general must be established in the Union too (Article 18).
Today Article 77 makes the declarant the debtor and, with indirect representation, the person on whose behalf the declaration is made as well. Operators are identified by an EORI number. Traders established in the Union need one to lodge declarations, and others may need one in specific situations (Access2Markets).
Encryption in servers can trigger a US export classification
US export control follows encryption. TFTIOR’s equipment table asks for an encryption capability declaration on storage arrays and flags 5A002 on enterprise switches. A licence is required for items classified 5A002 to every destination except Canada (15 CFR 742.15), but most go out under License Exception ENC (15 CFR 740.17). The classification rules above are US ones, so they reach hardware that is US-origin or otherwise subject to the EAR.
Hardware that meets the mass market note drops to 5A992.c and is controlled for anti-terrorism only. BIS weighs quantity sold, price, the technical skill needed, sales channels and typical customer, and says business-only products can qualify.
Network infrastructure is the harder case. Equipment with key lengths above 80 bits and encrypted WAN, MAN or VPN throughput of 250 Mbps or more falls under 740.17(b)(2), and the exporter files a classification request with BIS. Exports to the countries in supplement no. 3 can start right after submission. Elsewhere the 30-day waiting period in 740.17(d) applies, unless the producer’s CCATS already covers the item. For GPU servers the same TFTIOR table, a commercial service’s own, adds an end-user statement and a dual-use review, and lists EAR 3A001, 3A090 and 4A090 as a possibility (TFTIOR).
Radio, CE and local certificates by country
The US checks radio at the border. A device with a transmitter enters under 47 CFR 2.1204 on a valid FCC authorization. If none is required it must still meet the technical rules. The rule also lists narrower routes: testing and trade-show quantities, import solely for export, US Government use, a few units for personal use.
The CE file needs a name in the EU too. Article 4 of Regulation 2019/1020 covers products under directives such as 2014/30/EU (EMC), 2014/35/EU (low voltage) and 2014/53/EU (radio). Such a product goes on the market only if an operator established in the Union answers for the declaration of conformity and the technical documentation. That operator is the manufacturer, if it sits in the Union. If not, it is the importer, or an authorised representative with a written mandate. A fulfilment service provider comes last, and only when none of those exists.
India runs three tracks, Spilma’s reading of the gazette notifications (updated 7 October 2026) shows: BIS registration for listed goods, TEC’s MTCTE for notified telecom equipment, and WPC’s ETA for radio in licence-exempt bands. BIS accepts test reports only from BIS-recognised laboratories, so CE, UL, FCC or CB reports do not replace them. Wi-Fi access points have been under MTCTE since 1 January 2024. A foreign manufacturer works through an authorised Indian representative.
Mexico ties telecom approval to a domicile. Homologation certificates go only to applicants with a domicile in Mexico, and the guidelines let a Type A or Type C holder include affiliates, subsidiaries and importers in its certificate, who then carry the holder’s responsibilities. The regulator changed in 2025: since 17 October 2025 the CRT holds the role, and the IFT rules apply until replaced (Spilma). Every Mexican importer also has to be listed in the Padrón de Importadores kept by the finance ministry, trade.gov’s country guide says (updated February 2026).
What the service costs
Carra Globe’s June 2026 guide notes that some providers ask for shipment details before quoting anything. The guide says fees come as a flat amount per shipment, a percentage of CIF value, or a hybrid with a cap. It puts indicative bands at roughly $300 to $800 for standard commercial goods into markets with simple procedures and $800 to $2,500 or more for regulated or multi-agency imports, and says high-value work usually goes custom or capped. It also warns that one universal percentage oversimplifies (Carra Globe).
TFTIOR, which sells importer of record service for servers and data center equipment, states a typical fee of 2.5% to 4% of shipment value plus a base fee of $1,200 to $2,500 per shipment (TFTIOR). That is a vendor’s own range, not a market survey. One US sheet is public too. FSVP Services, part of Consultare Inc. Group, lists its non-food service at 3% of declared shipment value with a $399 minimum, plus 30% for expedited handling. The same page also shows a $750 single-shipment package (or 5% of applicable service fees, if higher) and a $360 basic package (FSVP Services). The scope is narrower. The page is about consumer products, and duty payment, HTS classification and the customs bond are all excluded. It describes administrative coordination for one shipment. The $399 minimum stops mattering at roughly $13,300 of goods, and above that every $100,000 of goods adds $3,000.
Government charges come on top, whichever provider is hired. The US merchandise processing fee on formal entries is 0.3464% of entered value. CBP notice 2026-15530 moved the limits on 1 October 2026: $34.58 minimum, $670.86 maximum per entry. The maximum is reached at around $193,700 of goods. Duty is separate again, with any Section 301 or 232 additions. These import charges are one slice of the landed cost of an order, next to product and transport.
What a wrong declaration costs the importer
Penalty law is 19 U.S.C. 1592. A material false statement or omission on an entry is a violation, and fraud, gross negligence and plain negligence all qualify. So does helping someone else make one. Clerical errors and mistakes of fact do not count, unless they are part of a pattern of negligent conduct.
Subsection (c) sets the ceilings by state of mind. Negligence: the lesser of the goods’ domestic value or twice the duties lost. Gross negligence: the lesser of domestic value or four times. Fraud: the domestic value. If duties were not affected, negligence is capped at 20% of dutiable value and gross negligence at 40%. A prior disclosure made before, or without knowledge of, a formal investigation limits a negligence or gross negligence penalty to interest on the unpaid duties, provided the importer tenders those duties at disclosure or within 30 days of CBP’s notice of the amount.
Eos Energy Storage, LLC was the importer of record on 61 entries between July 2018 and June 2019, for batteries assembled in China. It had not declared the value of components it bought and sent to the assembler, which count as assists, or some transport and packing costs. The case ended as a False Claims Act settlement. The July 2022 agreement with the Justice Department was for $1,017,761, of which $814,209 was restitution, plus interest at 2% a year.
What the contract has to say
Importivity’s guide says a service that signs the declaration will insist on seeing the real commercial invoice, because it is signing. It adds that the service is not a way to move liability for an undervalued invoice. The Consultare page is plain about its limits: no ownership of the goods, no guarantee of clearance, no certification of compliance. Compliance, duties and penalties stay with the client.
Before signing with a provider, ask where the certificates are registered, whose physical address customs has on file, and who settles a corrected entry.
Frequently asked questions
Is the customs broker the importer of record?
Sometimes, if it is the designated party on the entry. When a broker files for a client, CBP says a broker that submits a Form 5106 must hold a power of attorney executed directly with that importer of record. Check whose number is on the entry before you sign.
Can test or demonstration units go in without a certificate?
Sometimes, and only under the rule of the destination country. The FCC lets radio frequency devices in for testing and evaluation in quantities of 4,000 or fewer, and for trade-show demonstration in 400 or fewer, if they are not offered for sale. Above those numbers it wants written approval first. India's 2025 telecom conformity rules exempt R&D, demonstration, testing and personal-use imports (rule 9, per Spilma's guide). Other countries have their own limits, so ask the local broker before the units ship.
What happens to a shipment that nobody enters?
In the United States it can become general order merchandise: CBP takes it into custody and stores it in a general order warehouse at the risk and expense of the consignee (19 CFR 127.1). The grounds include no entry made within the time the law allows, an incomplete entry because estimated duties were not paid, and an entry that, in the port director's opinion, cannot be made for want of proper documents or other causes.