A Different Question From Customs
Regulatory and Trade Compliance Support
Customs asks what the goods are and what is payable on them. Trade compliance asks something else entirely: whether this shipment may lawfully go to this party in this country at all. The two are handled by different rules and answered at different points, and a shipment can be perfectly documented for customs and still be one nobody should have accepted. For product approvals and permits, see regulatory compliance support under customs clearance. Compliance and bonded movement overlap more than people expect, which how bonded warehouses support re-export and transit trade sets out.
What Gets Checked
Before the Booking, Not After
These questions are cheap to ask early and expensive to discover late.
- Whether the goods are export-controlled
- Whether the destination is restricted
- Whether the receiving party is screened clear
- Dual-use characteristics of the goods
- Applicable trade agreements and preferences
- Licence or authorisation requirements
Unsure If You Can Ship It?
Tell us the goods, the destination and the buyer
Check Compliance Call +971 4 239 7107Where Trade Compliance Bites
Compliance failures here are not delays. They are refusals, and sometimes worse.
The goods themselves
Some products are controlled regardless of who is buying them, particularly anything with a possible dual use. Technical specification decides this, not the commercial description.
The destination
Restrictions attach to countries and change over time. A route that was routine last year is not automatically routine now.
The counterparty
Restricted-party screening is about who is receiving the goods, which is a separate question from where they are going.
The agreement
Trade agreements can reduce duty substantially where origin supports it - see certificates of origin.
It is cheaper than the alternative
A compliance question answered at quotation costs a phone call. The same question answered after a shipment is stopped costs storage, demurrage and sometimes a contract - see storage for where goods wait meanwhile.
When to Ask
Timing Decides the Cost
The same question costs almost nothing early and a great deal late.
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At quotation
Before you price a deal, so a compliance problem does not turn into a contract you cannot perform.
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At booking
Before capacity is committed and goods are collected, which is the last genuinely cheap moment.
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After a hold
The expensive version. Goods are already somewhere, accruing charges, while the question is answered.
Why Cannata
Raised When It Is Still Cheap
A freight company that only sees your shipment at collection cannot warn you about anything that mattered at quotation.
Raised at booking
Compliance questions surface when the shipment is planned rather than when it is stopped.
Somewhere to hold it
If something genuinely needs resolving, goods wait in our warehouse rather than at a terminal.
Joined to the entry
Compliance, classification and the declaration are handled together so they cannot contradict each other.
Rate Request
Get a price for this shipment
Give us the route and the cargo and we will come back with a rate, usually within one working day.
Our FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What exporters ask about trade compliance.
