Taking Care Of Customs

Global trade compliance software vendor NextLinx Corp. is shipping Import Adapter, a new tool aimed at importers who are being pushed harder than ever by U.S. Customs to make sure inbound shipments are properly licensed, documented, and screened against a government list of people and nations it's illegal to do business with.

Rajiv Uppal, NextLinx president and CEO, says the offering uses XML and other integration technology to embed NextLinx functionality into the user interfaces of enterprise software products from vendors such as SAP, Oracle, and i2 Technologies so users don't have to switch to the NextLinx user interface to check shipments for customs compliance. Instead, users will be able to pull down menus installed by NextLinx in the user interface of their enterprise apps.

Traditionally, importers have relied on freight forwarders to handle customs compliance for them, but more companies are beginning to manage compliance themselves as a way of gaining more control over their inbound shipments. Shipments that aren't properly documented and licensed can sit on docks for lengthy periods of time while customs waits for proper paperwork and checks the shipments. Properly documented shipments generally breeze through customs.

The Import Adapter, which Uppal says can be deployed in less than a month, maintains and validates information required for the customs shipment entry processes. Uppal says companies can host the NextLinx software behind their own firewall or use NextLinx's hosted offering. The software is priced on a subscription basis.