Guide to Writing Statement of Goods Under Import Agency Arrangement, Attached with Customs-Recognized Standard Template and Filling Notes
Importing from China?
Need help with sourcing, customs or shipping?
Your China Import Partner
Reliable sourcing and import agency services.
Last month,Mr.Yan from Jiangsu contacted us.He entrusted a local trading company to act as the import agent for a batch of German industrial valves.Since the submitted statement of goods failed to specify EXW as the trade term,only the cargo value was declared without details of oversea freight and pickup fees,the shipment was flagged by the customs valuation system and detained.The whole process was stuck for 12 days,with port demurrage alone costing 23,000 RMB,and the construction period of the downstream factory was delayed.We encounter 3 to 5 such cases every month.Many enterprises consider the statement of goods as a mere formality that can be filled casually,but in fact it is the core basis for customs to verify the authenticity of declaration and determine the dutiable value.In 2026,the customs review pass rate of this document will be directly included in the enterprise credit rating score.Once errors occur,all subsequent import and export businesses will be affected.
I.Core Elements of Statement of Goods Under Import Agency Arrangement Recognized by Customs in 2026
In 2026,all national ports uniformly upgraded the declaration document review system.The mandatory modules and review standards for the Statement of Goods Under Import Agency Arrangement have been unified nationwide,and there is no situation where different ports have different requirements.The specific filling requirements are as follows:
| Filling Module | Mandatory Content | Compliance Requirement | New Review Point Added in 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Party Information | Unified Social Credit Code and Customs Registration Number of both the entrusting party and the agency party | Must be completely consistent with the parties declared on the customs declaration form,no abbreviations are allowed | Electronic certificate of the import agency agreement number signed by both parties is required to be uploaded |
| Cargo Information | HS Code,declaration elements,country of origin,weight per unit,total quantity | Declaration elements must fully match the brand,model and material marked on the outer package of the actual goods | For goods involving RCEP member states,the number of the Certificate of Origin must be marked |
| Trade Information | Trade term,total transaction value,freight,insurance premium,details of overseas miscellaneous fees | Corresponding screenshots of payment vouchers must be attached for all fees,and overseas pickup and customs clearance fees must be specified for EXW terms | The calculation basis for dutiable value shall be marked for anti-dumping related categories |
| Agency Rights and Responsibilities Information | Overseas foreign exchange payment party,division of declaration responsibilities,commodity inspection responsibility subject | The party that bears the relevant responsibilities for untruthful declaration must be clearly stated | The actual bearer of import taxes shall be marked |
II.Adaptation and Adjustment Points of the Statement for Different Cargo Categories
In addition to the general filling standards,the statement of goods for different imported categories needs to supplement additional corresponding compliance content to avoid control in commodity inspection or valuation links:
- General Goods: Focus on clarifying the procurement chain and final use of the goods to avoid control caused by "inconsistency between goods and documents".In 2026,for general goods transferred from cross-border e-commerce to general trade at Shanghai ports,it is required to additionally mark the business scope of the domestic consignee to confirm that the goods are not included in the prohibited or restricted import catalogue
- Mechanical and Electrical Products: It is required to additionally mark whether the goods belong to used mechanical and electrical products.For products involving 3C certification,the certification number must be listed clearly.For goods in the automatic import license catalogue,the license number shall be uploaded synchronously.We previously had a client from Suzhou importing second-hand injection molding machines.The statement did not mark the attribute of used mechanical and electrical products,so the goods were directly transferred to the commodity inspection department for mandatory middle inspection,delaying the construction period by 21 days
- Chemical Products: The official MSDS number and hazard class (if any) shall be specified.For dangerous goods categories,the pasting position of hazard labels and the information of emergency contact shall be marked.After the data linkage of Yangtze River Delta ports is realized in 2026,the statement of chemical products declared in Shanghai and transferred to Zhejiang or Jiangsu shall be copied to the local customs for filing
III.Common Filling Misconceptions and Risk Warning
Many enterprises hide the real transaction information in the statement of goods to reduce costs,which triggers greater compliance risks.There are three main types of high-frequency problems we encountered in 2026:
The first type is concealing trade terms and underreporting taxes and fees,for example,declaring goods transacted under EXW as FOB,deliberately omitting overseas freight and pickup fees.Once the customs valuation system compares the data with the average dutiable value of the same category of goods,the enterprise shall not only make supplementary payment for the corresponding tariffs and value-added taxes,but also pay a late payment fee up to 50% of the tax amount.Meanwhile,the enterprise will be included in the high-risk enterprise list,and 100% of all subsequent imported goods will be subject to unpacking inspection.
The second type is blurred division of rights and responsibilities.Many statements of goods do not clearly specify the foreign exchange payment party and the subject of declaration responsibilities.Once customs verification is triggered,the entrusting party and the agency party will pass the buck to each other.In 2026,the State Administration of Foreign Exchange increased the verification frequency of import agency foreign exchange payment by 30%.A statement without clear rights and responsibilities will directly trigger a foreign exchange payment warning,resulting in normal foreign exchange payment failure and affecting subsequent procurement.
The third type is ignoring the marking of hidden fees.Some overseas freight forwarders do not mark the charging standards for document exchange fees and container demurrage in the statement,and raise prices arbitrarily after the goods arrive at the port.In 2026,the document exchange fees of freight forwarders on European routes and Southeast Asian routes fluctuate greatly.All the statements we make for clients lock in all pre-port fee details in advance to avoid temporary price increase.
IV.Practical Suggestions for Efficient Customs Clearance
If you are doing import agency for the first time,or the imported category belongs to inspection-related or license-related categories,it is recommended to submit all documents to a professional agency for pre-review 3 to 5 days in advance.Our headquarters is located in Shanghai,and we can handle remote declaration for all ports nationwide.We have more than 120 cooperative outlets around the world,which can obtain overseas procurement contracts,payment vouchers and other materials in advance,and adjust the filling content of the statement of goods in advance.In 2026,the one-time pass rate of the statements we submitted reaches 99.2%,which is 17 percentage points higher than the industry average.
If your statement of goods has already been rejected,do not directly modify the content and resubmit.You shall first obtain the rejection reason from customs,confirm whether the problem is inconsistent declaration elements,suspected price or missing qualification,and make targeted adjustments to supplement corresponding supporting materials.We can complete the adjustment and resubmission in as fast as 2 hours,and finish customs clearance within 3 days at most.
At present,many enterprises directly fill the statement of goods with the template provided by freight forwarders.Due to uneven professional competence of different freight forwarders,missing and wrong filling problems easily occur.It is recommended to check item by item against the table above after filling,confirm that all mandatory content is not omitted,and all information is completely consistent with other documents,so as to avoid more than 90% of rejection risks.
Recent Comments (0) 0
Leave a Reply