Logistics
Declaring on someone else's behalf
You file what you are told and you are the one who signs. Your entire defence is being able to show who told you what, and when.
Your job is turning what a client sends you into something the authorities accept. **You know procedure and you do not know their product**: you are told what it is, what it is worth and where it comes from, and you file it. It is a service position carrying an exposure that is not always priced as one, and all of it turns on a single point: **being able to show what you were told**.
The three sources of a problem, and only one is yours
| Where it comes from | Example | What prevents it |
|---|---|---|
| The client informed wrongly | A wrong value or origin | Holding in writing what they said |
| The client did not inform | A document was missing and it went anyway | Recording what was asked for |
| You applied it wrongly | A debatable judgement of your own | The reasoning, written and dated |
| **Nobody knows what happened** | **No trail of anything** | **The worst case and the commonest** |
Important
**A verbal instruction does not exist.** That is the whole sentence for this position. The client who phones in a hurry to say it is worth less, that the origin is different, or to clear it and they will send the paper later, is making a decision with your name underneath. Asking for it in writing is not mistrust or bureaucracy: it is the only thing separating who informed from who filed when someone asks two years later.
What must be showable for each file
- 1
What the client sent you and when
With the date and the document exactly as it arrived.
- 2
What you asked for and what came back
Including the requests they never answered.
- 3
What was finally filed
And if it departed from what you were told, why.
- 4
And who authorised the doubtful call
By name. «The client said» is not a name.
Watch out
The scenario to avoid above all others: **clearing without a document on the promise that it arrives tomorrow**. It is a reasonable request, made by a client who matters to you, and it almost always ends well. The problem is the case where it does not: then there is a completed clearance, a document that does not exist and a conversation that only happened by phone. If you are going to take that risk —sometimes the business calls for it— have it in writing who asked and on what undertaking.
Worth knowing
What liability a representative assumes depending on the form of representation, what they may require of their client and how far their duty to check extends **is determined by the applicable rules and the contract, and settled by your adviser**. Here we cover the operational part: how to leave a trail of what was received and requested without slowing clearance.
›Can I refuse to declare something that does not add up?
Your contract and the rules decide that. What you can always do is put it in writing.
›Does an email count as an instruction?
It is infinitely better than a phone call, and it is what exists in practice.
›Should I keep what I asked for and never received?
Above all that. It is what proves it was asked for.
A real case
The situation
The client gives an instruction by phone and later remembers it differently.
What you do
- Asks for written confirmation and files it with the case
What you get
What was agreed stops depending on two memories.
The situation
Clearance goes ahead on the promise of a document that never arrives.
What you do
- Records what was asked for, when, and what came back
What you get
The broken undertaking is documented.
The situation
Two years on a file is queried and the context is missing.
What you do
- Keeps what was received, requested and filed together
What you get
The file explains itself.
The situation
Each operator keeps their emails in their own inbox.
What you do
- Gathers the file's documentation in a shared place
What you get
The answer does not depend on who is in that day.
The situation
Chasing the client for a document takes half a day.
What you do
- Chases automatically until it arrives
What you get
The chase stops competing with the day's work.
The situation
It is unclear who authorised a debatable decision.
What you do
- Records who asked for what and when
What you get
The authorisation has a name and a date.
This article answers
- customs representative liability
- declaring with data provided by the client
- how to protect myself if the client gives wrong information
- written client instructions customs