When local or global disruptions occur, authorities can often use this as an excuse for inertia. During the early days of the global Covid-19 pandemic, one of our clients in Morocco faced valuation challenges when importing products for its post-sales service operations.

Customs had refused to accept the declared value and were applying significant uplifts to the customs value of our client’s goods. Resolution of these types of disputes very often require close face-to-face interaction with authorities, but due to the Covid 19 pandemic this would not be possible.

However, BlueBlox’s local consultant challenged the ‘norm’ and convinced the authorities that discussions via teleconference should be possible while following all of the Covid-19 guidelines and protocols.  Via a teleconference meeting, Customs asserted that our client’s declared values were significantly lower than the sales values of identical and similar goods in the market. Also, Customs stated that the contractual relationship existing between our client and the importer of record (IOR) affected the value of the imported goods. In response, BlueBlox explained to Customs that the IOR was an unrelated party and that a transaction value methodology would not be appropriate for our Client’s post sales service model.  When presented with documentary evidence and clarification of the operating model during the teleconference meetings, Customs accepted our client’s valuation methodology and issued a ruling on the issue, supporting long term sustainability of our client’s post sales service business.

Whenever and whatever the circumstances of your trade compliance challenge (even global pandemics!) you can rely on BlueBlox’s innovative support to reach a compliant resolution.