Neither Market Lets a Foreign Seller Clear Its Own Goods

Japan and the Resident Importer

A Japanese import declaration has to be made by an importer with an address in Japan. A Chinese seller without a Japanese entity therefore cannot be the importer of record, and this is the structural difference that shapes every other decision about the market.

The workaround is a formal one. A non-resident can appoint an attorney for customs procedures — a licensed practitioner who files on the importer's behalf under a registered arrangement — and can then import in its own name. It is a real mechanism, used by foreign brands selling into Japan, and it requires a filing and an acceptance before the first shipment rather than during it.

The alternative, and the more common route for a first order, is a Japanese importer: a distributor, a retail partner, or an importer of record service. The choice has consequences beyond customs, because the importer of record is also the party that holds the product approvals in several categories, and those approvals do not transfer if the relationship ends.

For a buyer at the fair, the question to settle early is who will be the importer, because the answer decides whose name goes on the label, whose registration holds the certification, and who can be contacted by the authorities after the goods are sold.

Japanese Duty and Consumption Tax

Japan values imports on a CIF basis, so the customs value includes the freight and insurance to the Japanese port. Duty is then charged on that value, and consumption tax is charged on the value plus duty. Because the freight is inside the base, a costly air shipment raises both charges.

Consumption tax is 10% at the standard rate, with a reduced rate for food and newspapers. It is recoverable by a registered Japanese business and a cost to anyone else. A foreign seller importing into Japan without a Japanese tax registration will find the tax is not recoverable, which is a common and expensive discovery.

There is a low-value exemption for consignments below a threshold, with a list of excluded goods that includes leather goods, knitwear and footwear. The threshold is small and the exclusions are specific, so a sample shipment may be exempt while a commercial shipment of the same product is not.

Duty rates themselves are moderate on most consumer goods, and where a preferential rate is available it is usually available under a regional agreement rather than a bilateral one, since Japan and China have no free trade agreement of their own.

The Marks That Decide Whether It Can Be Sold

Japanese compliance runs through several separate laws, and a product can need more than one approval. The one buyers meet first is the electrical safety mark under the appliances and materials safety law, which has two forms: a certification requirement for specified products, involving a third-party body, and a self-declaration route for others. The mark differs between them and a supplier that prints the wrong one has not complied.

Radio equipment needs approval under the radio law, and the mark is required before the device can be sold. A product with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi in it therefore carries two obligations, not one, and a supplier that holds the electrical mark frequently does not hold the radio approval.

Food, food contact articles, cosmetics and medical devices go to the health authority. Food imports require a notification before arrival, filed through the electronic system, and the notification is made by the importer. Food contact materials are regulated as specifications on the material, and a test report against the wrong specification is not evidence.

Voluntary marks exist too, and Japanese retailers ask for them. The distinction to keep clear is between a mark that is legally required and one that a buyer's customer prefers, because the second is negotiable and the first stops the shipment.

Korea and the Licensed Broker

In Korea the import declaration is filed by a licensed customs broker. A company cannot file its own declaration unless it holds the licence, which in practice means every import runs through a broker, and the broker is a gatekeeper rather than a service provider.

The importer must hold a Korean business registration, and the registration has to cover the goods being imported. A company registered to trade in one category cannot import another without amending its registration, which is a step that takes days and is discovered at the worst moment.

Clearance can be declared before the goods arrive, which is how the fast lanes work: the declaration is filed on the basis of the arrival notice, duty is paid, and the container is released as soon as it is discharged. That is only possible when the documents are complete before arrival and the broker has been given everything.

Individuals receiving parcels use a personal clearance code instead of a business registration. That is a different route with different limits, and it is not available to a company importing for resale.

KC Certification, Three Levels

Korean product safety runs under a single mark with three levels of obligation behind it, and the level is set by the product category rather than by the importer's preference.

• Safety certification. The strictest level, requiring testing and factory inspection by an approved body. Applies to products where a failure is dangerous: certain electrical goods, children's products, some household items.
• Safety confirmation. Testing by an approved laboratory, with the report registered. No factory inspection.
• Supplier's declaration of conformity. The supplier declares conformity and holds the test evidence. The lightest level, and the one that still requires the evidence to exist.

Children's products carry additional obligations, including restrictions on substances and, for some categories, separate certification. Electrical goods also need to meet the efficiency and standby requirements where those apply.

The practical problem is that the level attached to a product is not always obvious from its description, and a supplier's existing certificate may be for a different model, a different rating, or a different factory. A certificate is only useful if the model number on it matches the model number on the carton.

Korean Duty, and the Agreement Question

Korea charges duty on the CIF value and value-added tax at 10% on the duty-paid value. The interesting part is not the rate but which agreement the goods enter under, because there are two and they do not give the same result.

The China-Korea free trade agreement has been in force since 2015, with tariff lines reduced in annual stages. The regional comprehensive economic partnership, in force for both countries since 2022, covers a different and in places wider set of lines. A given product may be cheaper under one than the other, and the importer chooses, once, per shipment.

Each agreement has its own origin rule and its own certificate. A certificate issued under one cannot be used to claim the other, and the origin rule for a product assembled from imported components can be satisfied under one agreement and not the other. That comparison is worth making before the first shipment, because the difference on a container of consumer goods is not trivial.

The rate also depends on the declared value being accepted. Korean customs pays attention to related-party pricing and to the treatment of assists, and a value that looks low relative to comparable imports is a reason for a review.

Why So Much of This Trade Flies

South China to Tokyo, Osaka, Busan and Incheon is a short ocean leg — typically three to five days port to port — and yet a large share of the trade moves by air. The reasons are commercial rather than logistical.

Japanese and Korean buyers order in smaller quantities more frequently, and they hold suppliers to tight delivery windows. A production cycle that finishes on a Thursday and needs stock on the shelf the following week cannot use a vessel that sails on Saturday and arrives eight days later plus clearance.

Air also suits the product mix. Consumer electronics, cosmetics, apparel and spare parts are high value per kilo, which is where air economics work. Furniture, packaging and building materials never fly.

For a buyer comparing the two, the calculation is not only cost per kilo. It is the cost of carrying inventory, the cost of a missed retail window, and the cost of capital tied up in a container that is at sea. For a first order into these markets, the air premium is often cheaper than the alternative.

Documents That Match the Registration

In both markets the documents have to agree with the registrations, and the registrations are held by the importer. That is a stricter test than in markets where the invoice is the primary evidence.

The invoice needs a specific description, the code, the origin, the terms and the currency. Japan also expects the shipping instructions to be detailed enough for the bill of lading to name the consignee exactly as registered, and a mismatch between the bill of lading consignee and the importer registration is a correction at the port.

The certificate of origin has to be the right one for the agreement claimed, issued by the right body, with the origin criterion stated. A generic certificate of origin is accepted for the duty but does not support a preferential claim.

Product certificates have to name the model, the importer and, where the regime requires it, the factory. A certificate in the supplier's name for a different buyer is the most common document defect on these lanes, and it is not curable by email.

The last item is the one nobody lists: a contact at the importer who can answer the broker's question within an hour of the arrival notice. On a three-day ocean leg, a one-day delay in answering is a third of the transit time.

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