What duty and tariff issues apply to inspection, verification and quality control?
Confidence 4/5 Established practice
Duty considerations for inspection, verification and quality control:
Not applicable — inspection is a service and attracts no import duty. Where the fee is paid to a Chinese provider and remitted abroad, it is an ordinary business expense rather than part of the customs value of the goods, and it should not be included in the declared transaction value.
Sources
- Pre-shipment inspection scope, pricing and AQL sampling — QIMA and SGS published service definitions
- ISO 2859-1 sampling procedures — ISO
- Supplier verification practice — QIMA supplier qualification guidance
What goes wrong with inspection, verification and quality control
- Inspecting only at the end, when design and material choices are already locked in.
- Accepting a factory's own report as independent verification.
- Skipping inspection because the order is small; small orders are where a total loss is most painful relative to turnover.
- Not defining what a defect is before the inspection, which makes the report unactionable.
- Booking an inspection after the goods are already packed and the container is loaded.
Related questions people ask
Want this priced for your specification?
Send the requirement and any drawings. You get a supplier shortlist and one landed price, with the cost breakdown shown.