In each country there are specific procedures and processes for bringing in and sending out goods to and from foreign countries. For networking goods however, there is much grey area around shipping requirements as there is no straight forward and uniform method that is internationally utilised. Therefore, each shipment in and out of various regions and countries must be dealt with individually – making it time consuming and laborious. Shipping technology components requires extremely specific compliance documentation and permits in order to meet import and export requirements, without which goods could get stuck in customs indefinitely – hindering productivity and resulting in a substantial cost to global businesses.

KITS acts as both an Importer of Record and Exporter of Record. This means that we import and export goods on behalf of our clients in over 200 countries and territories around the world. We have extensive knowledge of the compliance procedures and import export regulations and work hard to clear your goods quickly and easily in even the most notoriously technical and difficult countries. We handle everything: obtaining the licenses and permits, filing the documentation, paying the duties and taxes – we do it all for you at a click of a button.

KIT’s wealth of experience and team of compliance experts will make your importing and exporting experience completely hassle-free, allowing your business to focus on doing what you do best while we enable you to achieve international success as your partner for global business. We provide a complete solution for the movement of high value, large scale technology components allowing your organisation to unlock significant value for growth into new markets, while benefitting from substantial supply chain efficiencies.

Our IOR and EOR services are quoted on a per shipment basis as it depends on the specifications of each shipment. We always provide an upfront quote to ensure complete transparency. Once you accept our quote, you will have peace of mind that your goods are in safe hands.

HS Codes form part of a product classification system used in international trade by most countries. An HS Code indicates to a customs official the specific category of goods being imported.

In the USA, a network switch is classified using the HS Code 85176200.

The HS Code System uses numerical codes to represent different types of commodities as described in a country’s HS code manual. Each country may have variations on how they classify goods, but usually the first four digits of an HS Code are used internationally, and anything thereafter is country-specific. The same HS Code used above for a network switch in the US, 85176200, can be divided as follows:

8 5 1 7 6 2 0 0

The first two digits of the HS Code, 8 5, shows that the product falls under the 85th Chapter of the HS Code Manual: Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles.

8 5 1 7 6 2 0 0

The second two digits, 1 7, show that this product falls into the 17th heading of the HS Code Manual: Telephone sets, including telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network), other than transmission or reception apparatus heading 8443, 8525, 8527 or 8528; parts thereof.

8 5 1 7 6 2 0 0

The following two numbers, 6 2, indicate that this product falls into the 62nd subheading of the HS code manual: Machines for the reception, conversion and transmission of regeneration of voice, images or other data, including switching and routing apparatus.

8 5 1 7 6 2 0 0

The last two digits are listed as 0 0. In this particular case, they carry no significance but are there as placeholders to ensure a uniform 8-digit HS codes in the US.
However, in the future this type of switch may be further classified which means these digits last two could be changed to 01 or 02 etc.

The first four numbers are generally universal, but from the fifth digit onwards, each country or union has its own unique method of classification and therefore carry different duty and tax rates. The duty rate per HS code may differ significantly between countries even when the HS code represents the same type of product. Optical fibre cables for example are represented by HS code 85447000, which attracts a 15% duty when imported into South Africa, yet are duty-free when imported into the USA.