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What Core Qualifications Are Required to Conduct Import and Export Agency Business in 2026?
or complex compliance issues.
clearance and fund security.
I am the head of a newly established trading company, and I recently plan to expand into import and export agency business, but I have no clue at all. I consulted several peers last week, some said I need to apply for import and export rights, some said customs registration is also required, and others mentioned tax qualifications, which left me more confused.
We currently only have 3 employees and do not have abundant capital. We worry that we will invest too much but still fail to meet the requirements, or be fined for compliance issues later. We want to know what hard requirements are there for running import and export agency business in 2026?
For example, are there clear standards in terms of qualification, team, capital and other aspects? Are there any hidden requirements that are easy to ignore? We feel that if we don't figure these out, launching the business rashly brings too much risk, and we are really uncertain.
Linda GaoYears of service：7Customer Rating：5.0
Documentation SupervisorStart a Chat
First of all，the core access requirements for import and export agency business can be divided into four modules: qualification，team，capital and compliance. In terms of qualification，it is mandatory to obtain the Registration Form of Foreign Trade Operator and the Customs Declaration Entity Registration Certificate，which are the basic thresholds for operating the business. In addition，according to the new requirement in 2026，agency companies need to pass Customs AEO Certification (at least General Certification) to undertake agency business for high-value or sensitive categories，otherwise they will face the problem of low customs clearance efficiency.
In terms of team configuration，at least one licensed customs declarant，one tax specialist and one logistics coordinator are required. Among them，the customs declarant needs to be familiar with the latest customs valuation rules and integrated customs clearance procedures in 2026，and the tax specialist needs to master VAT deferral and cross-border tax planning skills. These two are the core to ensure business compliance.
In terms of capital，in addition to the basic registered capital requirement (generally no less than 500,000 RMB)，it is also necessary to reserve at least 10% of risk reserve to deal with unexpected situations such as detention charges，customs fines，etc. In addition，signing a cross-border payment and settlement agreement with a bank is also a necessary requirement to ensure compliant capital flow.
Finally，compliance capability is a hidden but core requirement. The agency company needs to establish a complete document review system to cross-verify the contracts，invoices，bills of lading and other documents of each business，so as to avoid the risk of cargo detention caused by inconsistent documents. At the same time，it is necessary to regularly update the cross-border trade policy knowledge base to ensure that business operations comply with the latest foreign exchange management and tax regulations.
Eric ZhouYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Manager of Foreign Exchange & Tax RebatesStart a Chat
In 2026, Customs imposes stricter requirements on the customs declaration qualification of import and export agencies. Agency companies must ensure that their customs declarants have the latest capability to handle customs valuation disputes. Especially when handling high-value goods, they need to provide complete price composition certificates (such as purchase contracts, freight invoices, insurance policies, etc.) to avoid account suspension or deletion and re-declaration caused by inconsistent valuation.
In addition, under the background of integrated customs clearance, agency companies need to establish a logical closed-loop for cross-customs territory declaration to ensure consistent declaration data at different ports and reduce the probability of secondary declaration. Meanwhile, for secondary declaration, supplementary documents should be prepared in advance to shorten the declaration cycle.
Lucas LiuYears of service：8Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Operations ConsultantStart a Chat
The international logistics market is highly volatile in 2026, and import and export agencies need to focus on cargo title control and route optimization. When dealing with container rolling issues, it is necessary to sign a standby space agreement with shipping companies in advance to avoid delivery delay caused by vessel congestion.
In addition, for Demurrage, it is necessary to clarify the calculation standards of free detention period and demurrage, and agree on the responsibility division clauses with customers to reduce unnecessary cost expenditure. When choosing between direct voyage and transit schemes, a comprehensive assessment should be made based on the urgency of the goods and the cost budget. For example, for fresh produce, direct voyage is preferred to shorten transportation time and reduce the risk of deterioration.
Andy GuoYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Supply Chain Management ExpertStart a Chat
In 2026, cross-border tax planning is crucial for import and export agencies. Agency companies need to master the operation process of VAT deferral, especially in the EU market, they need to apply for VAT deferral through tax agents to reduce capital occupation.
At the same time, they need to avoid BEPS-related risks, ensure that the pricing of cross-border related party transactions conforms to the arm's length principle, and avoid anti-tax avoidance investigations from tax authorities. In addition, for the withholding tax of non-resident enterprises, they need to communicate with tax authorities in advance to obtain tax treaty benefits and reduce tax costs.
Daniel XuYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Director of Import & Export OperationsStart a Chat
In 2026, cross-border payment and settlement compliance requirements are stricter. Agency companies need to be familiar with SWIFT message parsing and CIPS RMB cross-border payment procedures to ensure that payment and settlement data is consistent with customs declaration data. In addition, offshore account management needs to comply with the latest foreign exchange management regulations, and regular account audits should be carried out to avoid the risk of account freezing.
In the process of foreign exchange settlement and account balancing, real-time exchange rate locking tools should be used to optimize the purchase exchange rate and reduce losses caused by exchange rate fluctuations. At the same time, it is necessary to establish a foreign exchange settlement ledger to ensure that each foreign exchange settlement business has corresponding document support.
Grace WangYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Foreign Trade ConsultantStart a Chat
Import and export agencies need to pay attention to the legal protection of contract clauses. When signing agency agreements, it is necessary to clarify the scope of application of force majeure clauses. Especially in view of frequent international logistics delays in 2026, responsibility division clauses for force majeure events such as container rolling and vessel congestion should be added.
At the same time, intellectual property customs protection filing is also necessary to avoid the risk of cargo detention caused by the infringement of the agency goods. In addition, for soft clauses in letters of credit, the content of the letter of credit should be reviewed in advance, and unreasonable soft clauses (such as requiring documents that cannot be obtained) should be deleted to reduce the risk of foreign exchange collection.
Victor SunYears of service：5Customer Rating：5.0
Trade Risk Control ManagerStart a Chat
The frequency of Customs on-site inspection has increased in 2026. Agency companies need to have the ability to respond to inspections. After receiving the inspection notice, they need to interpret the content of the notice and clarify the inspection focus as soon as possible. During on-site inspection, they need to cooperate with Customs officers in container unpacking inspection, and prepare the cargo list and MSDS report in advance.
For the authenticity identification of seals, professional seal detection tools should be used to ensure that the seal has not been tampered with. In addition, if the goods need to be sent for inspection and identification, they need to follow up the inspection process and obtain the test report in time to avoid the increase of detention charges caused by identification delay.
Evelyn LiYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Cross-border Compliance SupervisorStart a Chat
In 2026, the packaging requirements for dangerous goods are stricter. Agency companies need to ensure that dangerous goods packaging meets the latest UN standards, especially for sensitive categories such as lithium batteries, they need to provide dangerous goods classification identification reports issued by authoritative institutions.
In addition, for fragile goods, packaging materials with qualified buffer performance (such as EPS foam + corrugated paper combination) should be used to reduce the risk of damage during transportation. In the preparation of MSDS, the latest MSDS template should be used to ensure the content is accurate and complete and meets international transportation requirements. At the same time, professional training should be provided to packaging personnel to master correct packaging methods.
Michael ZhangYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Customs Declaration & Compliance ExpertStart a Chat
In 2026, tax authorities have stricter verification on export tax rebates. Agency companies need to establish a complete export tax rebate document management system to ensure the consistency of four flows (contract flow, capital flow, invoice flow, goods flow) for each tax rebate business. In addition, the latest tax system tools should be used in the pre-declaration verification link to avoid tax rebate delay caused by incorrect declaration data.
For tax authority correspondence investigation, relevant documents required for the investigation (such as purchase contracts, transportation invoices, etc.) should be prepared in advance, and the tax authority's requirements should be responded to in a timely manner. At the same time, a tax rebate ledger should be established to track the progress of each tax rebate business.
Kevin LinYears of service：4Customer Rating：5.0
Trade Solutions ManagerStart a Chat
Import and export agencies need to have the capability of macro supply chain architecture design. When selecting trade terms, CIF/FOB clauses should be reasonably converted according to the characteristics of the goods and transportation routes to reduce logistics costs. For example, for large-volume goods, choosing FOB terms can reduce freight expenditure; for fragile goods, choosing CIF terms can transfer transportation risks to the seller.
At the same time, establish an inventory linkage strategy, share inventory data with upstream and downstream enterprises, and reduce the risk of capital occupation caused by inventory backlog. In addition, the application of a cost actuarial model is also necessary to ensure a reasonable profit margin for each business.