Customs clearance

For many importers customs is the least predictable stage: a wrong code, a missing certificate or a discrepancy in the invoice can hold cargo for days. The main reason cargo waits at a border is paperwork, not transport. Our brokers check the documents before the cargo leaves, so most problems are resolved in the country of loading rather than at the post in Baku, Astara or Khudat.

We determine the correct tariff classification (HS) code, calculate duty and VAT in advance and put the final figure in the quote — so your budget does not change after the fact. Duty on this corridor runs from 0% to 15% depending on the code, with 18% VAT on top. A packing list and a commercial invoice are enough for a first calculation; the exact amount is confirmed once the classification is agreed.

Clearance itself is one to three business days when the file is complete. Import, export and transit declarations are all in scope. We prepare the declaration, file it, and handle the correspondence with the authorities. You do not need a second broker at the port or the airport; the same team that quoted the freight clears the cargo.

The core documents are the commercial invoice, the packing list, the contract and the transport document — bill of lading, air waybill or CMR, depending on the mode. Certificates of origin and conformity are required for some goods and not for others. We give you the list up front so there is time to obtain them, rather than discovering a missing paper when the container is already at the terminal.

Classification is where most of the money sits. Two similar items can fall under different codes and different rates. We do not guess a code to make the duty look lower; a code that does not match the goods is what triggers a hold, a fine, or both. If a laboratory test or an expert appraisal is needed, that is quoted as an option before we file, not as a surprise after the cargo is selected for inspection.

If the cargo is held, we find out why, prepare the missing document and handle the correspondence on your behalf. Storage charges at the terminal start accruing while a file is incomplete; we tell you as soon as they apply. The aim of the pre-check is that this paragraph stays hypothetical for most shipments.

Customs clearance is a stage, not a substitute for freight. It sits on every sea, air, rail and road shipment we handle, and it is also available on its own when the cargo is already in Azerbaijan and only the declaration is missing. Brokerage, which is a separate service, covers the conversations around the shipment — carriers, suppliers, rates — not the filing of the declaration.

Send the item list, the invoices and the packing lists. The first reading of the file, including a duty estimate, is part of the quote, which is ready in one working day. Certificates, laboratory work and origin documents are priced separately when they are needed.

The 1–3 business day clearance is the filing, not the years of classification disputes that a bad code can start. We would rather spend an extra hour on the HS code before the cargo moves than spend a week at the post after it has arrived. Baku, Astara and Khudat are the posts we work; which one you land at depends on the mode, not on a preference we invent in the quote.

A usable customs file is an invoice that matches the packing list, a contract if the post asks, the transport document, and a description of the goods that a classifier can actually use — not “samples” or “parts” as a single line. If the goods need a certificate of conformity or origin, we say so before the vessel, the train or the truck is booked. Obtaining those papers after arrival is what fills the terminal warehouse.

Duty and VAT are not our fee. They are paid to the state, and the quote shows them as such. Our work is the classification, the declaration, the correspondence and the release. If a shipment is selected for inspection, we stay with it; we do not hand you a reference number and disappear. Storage that accrues during a hold is reported the day it starts, so you can decide whether to wait or to pull a missing paper overnight.