During a routine review of our own files we found that a line of imported drink powder had been declared under the wrong heading for fourteen months, across eleven consignments. The error was ours and it had underpaid duty.
We told the importer the same week, with the figure and the two options: wait, or correct it voluntarily. We recommended correcting it and we recommended it knowing that the conversation was going to be unpleasant and that the fee for the work was ours to absorb.
The corrections were filed, the underpaid duty was paid, and the matter closed without a penalty, which is the ordinary outcome for a voluntary correction and not the ordinary outcome for a discovered one.
Then we fixed the cause. The supplier's invoice described the product in a way that fitted two headings, and nobody had ever gone back to the ingredient breakdown. The invoice format was changed and the heading is now written on our file with the reasoning behind it.
We include this case deliberately. Every agent makes classification errors. What an importer should ask is what happens when one is found.
