Importer of record · Licensed customs broker · U.S. market entry

Every import is a crossing.

Sovereign Pacific brings foreign-made goods into the United States, files the entries correctly the first time, and connects overseas producers with domestic partners who can put those goods to work.

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Licensed customs broker, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Los Angeles, California Boston, Massachusetts

What we do

Three ways goods and partners get across.

Some clients need us to own the import. Some need the compliance work behind it. Some need the partner on the other side of the water. Most eventually need all three.

19 U.S.C. § 1484 — Entry

Importer of record

We take title and take responsibility. Sovereign Pacific buys from the factory, imports under our own importer number, and delivers into the U.S. market — so a producer with no U.S. presence still has a U.S. importer standing behind the entry.

  • Purchase and import under our IOR number
  • Continuous bond, ISF, and broker coordination
  • Landed cost priced before you ship, not after
  • Delivery to your buyer, a 3PL, or a zone
19 C.F.R. Part 111 — Brokers

Inbound trade compliance

Advisory work led by a licensed customs broker. Nearly every import problem is decided long before the container arrives — in the classification, the valuation, and the documents standing behind them.

  • HTS classification and binding ruling requests
  • Country of origin and free trade agreement qualification
  • Valuation, assists, and related-party pricing
  • Section 301 and 232 exposure, exclusions, and planning
  • Detentions, CBP Form 28 and 29 responses, prior disclosure
  • Forced labor and UFLPA supply chain diligence
  • Recordkeeping and internal compliance programs
19 C.F.R. Part 146 — Zones

Sovereign & Pacific partnerships

The other half of the name. We introduce overseas manufacturers and exporters to domestic partners holding something scarce — foreign-trade zone status, land, warehousing, or a jurisdictional advantage worth building around — and then structure the arrangement so it survives contact with customs.

  • Matching foreign producers with domestic zone and site partners
  • Duty deferral, inverted tariff, and zone admission planning
  • Supply, distribution, and role-of-the-parties terms
  • Governance and reporting across two jurisdictions

How a crossing works

Origin and delivery are the two piers. Everything else is the span.

A typical ocean import, start to finish. The first two steps are where the money is won or lost.

Origin

Factory, terms, and specimen documents reviewed before anything is ordered.

Classification

HTS number, origin, and duty rate settled in writing, with any FTA claim identified.

Booking

Incoterms, carrier, and insurance set. ISF filed before the cargo is laden.

Entry

Entry and entry summary filed with CBP; duties, fees, and tariff actions paid.

Release

Cargo released — or a hold, exam, or information request answered on the record.

Delivery

Goods to the buyer, warehouse, or zone. Records kept five years from entry.

Why the license matters

U.S. Customs holds the importer responsible — not the factory, not the freight forwarder, and not the person who filled in the form.

A customs broker's license is issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to individuals who pass the broker examination and clear a background investigation. It is the credential CBP recognizes for transacting customs business on another party's behalf.

Sovereign Pacific is run by a licensed customs broker who also spends his working life on commercial and trade matters. That combination is the whole point: the compliance judgment sits with the same person who signs the contracts.

Ask a compliance question

  • Reasonable care The importer's duty under 19 U.S.C. § 1484 is not best effort. It is a legal standard, and CBP measures it by what you documented, not what you intended.
  • Five years Entry records must be kept five years from the date of entry. Most penalty cases begin as a records request the importer cannot answer.
  • Prior disclosure An error found and disclosed before CBP finds it is treated very differently from one found during an audit. Timing is most of the value.
  • Classification first The HTS number drives the duty rate, the trade remedy exposure, the FTA claim, and the partner government agency filings. Get it right once.

Contact

Tell us what you're moving.

Send us four things and we can usually come back with a duty estimate and the classification questions worth arguing about:

  1. What the product is, in plain language.
  2. What it is made of, by material and by weight or value.
  3. Where it is made, and where its components come from.
  4. What you pay for it, and what that price includes.

Email info@sov-pac.com

Sovereign Pacific