Your broker files it. Your factory holds the proof. You carry the risk.

The call usually starts the same way.

A notice has come in. The importer forwards it to the broker. The broker forwards it back with a polite note: we need the production records and the raw material purchases.

The importer opens the folder. There's an invoice. A packing list. A certificate of origin. A payment record. Everything a normal shipment has.

None of it answers the question.

Here's the part that surprises people: nobody did anything wrong. The broker filed what he was given. The factory shipped what was ordered. The importer paid the invoice. Each person did their job, and the proof of where the goods came from ended up in a place none of them can reach in a hurry.

That's the gap. It isn't carelessness. It's how the work is divided.

Three people, three files

A typical shipment from Asia leaves three files behind.

Your broker's file is the entry: classification, value, the country of origin as declared, and the paperwork that clears the goods. It's complete by the broker's standard, and it's built from what you gave them.

Your file is the commercial trail: purchase orders, invoices, payments, shipping documents. It shows that you bought something and paid for it. It doesn't show what the factory did next.

The factory's file is where the answer lives. Bills of materials. Production records. Purchases of raw materials and parts, and who they came from. Which line, which batch. And at the factory's own suppliers, the same again.

Three files, three owners. And the law counts all of it as yours.

The law puts it on one desk

The duty to use reasonable care sits with the importer of record. The statute lets an agent act for you, but the duty stays with the importer. CBP's own guidance on reasonable care says the importer is the party responsible for using reasonable care to enter, classify and value the goods.

Your broker has duties too, but they're different ones. They're about how the broker runs the broker's own business, and they sit alongside your duty, not in place of it.

Where this gets expensive is the penalty section. In customs law, a mistake can be treated as negligence, gross negligence or fraud, and the ceilings are written into the statute:

• Negligence: up to the lesser of the goods' domestic value or two times the duties lost.
• Gross negligence: up to the lesser of the domestic value or four times the duties lost.
• Fraud: up to the domestic value of the goods.

Those are ceilings written into the statute, not predictions of what any case will cost. They explain why CBP asks the question the way it does, and why the answer needs to sit in a file and not in somebody's memory.

Then add the clock. Records for an entry generally have to be kept for five years from the date of entry, so a shipment made this year may still be asked about into 2031.

What CBP actually asks, and how fast

Two examples, so you can feel the speed.

A request for information, the CF-28, typically gives you 30 days. If CBP then proposes an action on a CF-29, the typical window is about 20 days. Extensions can be requested, and the dates on the notice itself are the ones that count.

Forced labor is a separate track. In June 2026, CBP published a single operational guide for importers that covers its forced-labor tools: Section 307, the UFLPA and CAATSA. It expects tracing back to the raw material, with purchase orders, production records, payment records and transport documents linking inputs to outputs at every tier.

Under the UFLPA, an importer who wants goods released has to show, with clear and convincing evidence, that they weren't made with forced labor. Law firms reading the new guide stress that every supplier in the chain may matter. You can't answer for the supplier you've traced and skip the one you haven't.

I'm not telling you this to worry you. I'm telling you because the clock runs the same whether you're ready or not.

Why nobody sees the gap

Because nothing breaks. Goods clear. Invoices get paid. The broker's file looks complete, because by his standard it is. The certificate of origin is signed.

And the factory? In our experience, many factories have the records, and they're run by good people running real businesses. They just haven't been asked, and nobody has explained why it's worth keeping those records in a form you can use, for years, with the raw material suppliers named.

So the gap stays invisible until the day somebody asks. On that day, 30 days isn't long.

A one-minute test

Pick one product you import. Then ask:

1. Can you name every factory that touched it, down to the raw material?
2. Do you hold the bill of materials?
3. Could you produce the production records for your last shipment?
4. Does your supplier contract say the factory keeps its records for years and shares them when asked?
5. If a notice arrived tomorrow, who would you call first, and what would they ask you for?

If you can't answer them in a minute, you've found the gap. That's not a failure. It's where almost everyone starts.

Four moves that close it

You don't need a big project to begin. You need to begin in the right place.

1. Pick the products that matter most. The ones with the most volume or the most exposure. Start there, not everywhere.
2. Map each one down to raw material. Who makes each part, who supplies them, in every country. The map is the spine of the file.
3. Ask for the records, face to face, and write it into the contract. Sit down with the factory, explain what you need and why, and agree that it keeps the records and shares them when asked. Put statements about its own suppliers and labor practices into the supply contract, with the wording drafted by your counsel. In our experience, most factories agree once someone explains why.
4. Put it in one place, with a note of who holds what. One binder per product, and a line for each document: where it is, who holds the original. When the notice comes, you open one folder.

Who does what

Your customs broker and trade counsel file and advise. They're good at it, and they work better with a real file in front of them. We build the supplier side: the map, the records and the supplier statements, across China, Vietnam and India, as a system you own and run. We don't file with CBP, and we don't give legal advice.

This article is general information, current as of October 2026. It isn't legal advice. Rules and timelines change and depend on the facts of each case, so check yours with your customs broker or trade counsel.

If you'd like to see where your own gap is, a 30-minute call is the quickest way. You tell us what you make and where, and we tell you what we see.

Further reading: Factory Compliance Audit Checklist

Want to see where your gap is?

Tell us what you make, where, and who your suppliers are. We'll tell you what we see.

Book a meeting: asia-agent.com/book-a-meeting

Asia Agent Pte Ltd. We build the supplier side: records, files and structure. Your customs broker and trade counsel advise and file.