A great many ordinary imports need a permission first: food, medicine, cosmetics, chemicals, refrigerant gas, radio equipment, vehicle parts, agricultural items, and a long list of tools that look alarming and are not.
The trap is the calendar. A permit takes days that do not overlap with the shipping, so a consignment can be cleared on paper and sit in a yard waiting for a document that could have been obtained while the ship was at sea.
We review an order for controlled lines at quotation stage and start the applications then. Where an item cannot be permitted at all we say so before you pay a supplier, which has saved several customers more than every fee they have ever paid us.
We do not charge separately for telling you something needs a permit. We charge for making the application.