Basics of the International System of Customs and Tariffs

Customs and tariffs effect every international transaction involving goods. Even an export of a good from one place is an import at the point of its receipt. It is impossible for a businessperson to successfully engage in international trade without understanding the basic premises upon which customs and tariffs operate. Although customs and tariffs operate from a national perspective, it is the overarching international structure of classification, valuation, etc. that is imposed upon the national schemes that provide international customs and tariffs with a comprehensible global consistency whose understanding is of great importance for those dealing in international commerce. It is this global scheme of customs and tariffs laws and practices that the author describes so thoroughly and well. Having mapped out for the reader that global scheme, he then describes the many types of variances and exemptions from the global scheme that must be understood as well. The devil is always in the details! Those variances and exemptions provide both detailed deviltry and, equally important, opportunities upon which a skilled international trader may capitalise for his or her benefit. This guide provides a highly readable description of its subject and a unique global perspective not encountered in other books dealing with the same topic.