With over 190 countries in the world actively involved and regulating trade, it is increasingly complex and time consuming to understand all of the requirements to legally ship to or source from a given country. The challenge for organizations in today’s global economy is to maintain compliance with changing trade regulations while managing a growing network of trading partner relationships and still get product to market at the lowest delivered cost.
What used to require many hours of manual interpretation of trade rules and regulations is now an automated process achieved instantly via Trade Wizards. Powered by Amber Road, Trade Wizards provides users with instant compliance capabilities and a full audit trail. Trade Wizards is a web-based research tool that taps into a wealth of trade content from over 145 countries. By automating key tasks such as product classification, regulatory controls (export and import), trade party screening and landed cost calculation, you can reduce the costs of trade, improve compliance and profitably develop new markets.
Trade Wizards enables organization to make quick, interactive queries using a web browser to calculate import duties and excise taxes, search for Harmonized Schedule (HS) and Export Control Numbers (ECN), screen for restricted trade parties, calculate landed cost and determine licensing requirements and trade documents for 95% of the world market. Delivered on-demand, the solution requires no software or system integration, saving valuable time and resources.
Product Classification
The product classification features help shippers determine Harmonized Schedule (HS) codes and Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCN/ECN) for any product being shipped to or from any country. Trade Wizards allows a user to search for a product classification using common words or legal definitions. It also allows the user to search via a tree structure to precisely identify a classification. Once a classification is determined for one country, the user can view corresponding tariffs from other countries.
Amber Road’s Trade Wizards solution also provides access to the most up-to-date Explanatory Notes. Explanatory Notes for the Harmonized Tariff Schedule are issued by the World Customs Organization (WCO). Although not legally binding, they offer classification guidelines and are often used by the trade community to assist with classifying products. The WCO explanatory notes follow the structure of the tariff and give a more detailed description of a product or group of products and often include an explanation of terminology used in the tariff and detailed manufacturing processes that impact classification.
Regulatory Controls
The regulatory controls feature enables quick and accurate determination of whether a license is required for cross-border transactions. The application includes both import and export controls, and highlights any regulatory controls that may apply to a specific commodity (such as quotas; antidumping or countervailing duties; license, visa or permit requirements; or if the transaction involves any restricted entities, embargoes, boycotts or proliferation agreements currently in existence).
Trade Party Screening
In today’s era of heightened security, determining whether individuals, companies or organizations are sanctioned by a government or restricted from conducting trade is essential. Shippers must ensure that they are compliant with government regulations and that their goods are destined for commercial use. Non-compliance can lead to penalties, fines, loss of export privileges or in extreme cases, imprisonment.
The restricted party screening (RPS) feature of Trade Wizards provides a secure method that enables organizations to screen their customers, suppliers and other trading partners against over 300 restricted party lists from governmental institutions worldwide. Advanced, computational linguistics algorithms allow the user to see more accurate results.
Updates to international regulatory lists are processed regularly to ensure that restricted parties are properly flagged before the customers’ goods or services are shipped.
Landed Cost Calculator
Determining the total landed cost of an item requires knowing the actual cost of the goods, transportation and insurance costs, and all duties, taxes and governmental fees assessed.
The landed cost feature simplifies cross-border transactions by accurately calculating all relevant costs associated with the shipment of goods from any origin to any destination in the world. The application calculates import duties, value added tax (VAT), excise duty and other governmental charges levied at the point of import for a product with import HS classification. This helps organizations optimize procurement decisions, benefit from preferential duty rates, identify low-cost sourcing and distribution locations, and respond rapidly to changing economic conditions.
Trade Documents
Any party to an international trade transaction must provide the necessary trade documentation to the respective customs authorities. Failure to do so can significantly affect the on-time delivery of a shipment.
The document determination feature provides information on the commercial and governmental documentation required for any country of import/country of export combination. It also provides information regarding the language requirements for the respective commercial documents, as well as the number of copies that must be submitted for customs clearance. Once the user has provided the appropriate inputs (country of import, country of export, mode of transport, responsible parties, document type), the application lists all the commercial documentation required for shipping a commodity between those locations.
Transaction Wizard
The transaction wizard feature combines the functionality of landed cost calculation, regulatory controls and document determination – all in one query.
Transaction wizard allows users to submit a single query to the combined database and answer key questions.
As a result of the inputs provided, Trade Wizards provides information on some of the main elements required to complete an international trade transaction for all countries of manufacture and export, i.e., total landed cost, applicable import and export licenses or permits required, additional duties (anti-dumping or countervailing duties), quota restrictions that may apply, and all necessary trade documentation.
Global Knowledge®
Trade Wizards is powered by Global Knowledge®, the industry’s most comprehensive and robust database of global trade content and international business rules. Content for Global Knowledge is sourced, analyzed and updated daily by Amber Road’s global content team, consisting of over international trade analysts, trade attorneys and in-country global content providers.
Implementation and Service Delivery
Trade Wizards is an on-demand, subscription-based solution. Hosted at a secure data center, the application requires no software or systems integration. Following a simple registration process, the user will receive the application URL and login credentials. Online help and 24 x 7 customer support services are also available.
