Where the data comes from, and where it doesn't yet
Customs Declare makes real accuracy claims on every page of this site. This page is what backs them up -- sourcing, refresh cadence, how classification actually works, what a human has to sign off on, and the gaps we haven't closed.
Where declaration requirements come from
Each country's form name, issuing authority, required language, and supporting documents are researched individually and stored with a cited source -- never a bulk import or an assumption that one country's template travels to another. Every row carries a confidence level (confirmed, moderate, low, or unconfirmed) reflecting how independently verifiable that source is, not how likely the requirement is to be correct. As of this writing: 91 of 193 countries are independently confirmed against a primary government source, 96 are at moderate confidence, and 6 are not yet independently verifiable.
Where MFN and preferential rate data comes from
MFN duty rates are imported from each country's own published tariff schedule (141 destination countries covered today). Preferential rates come from each trade agreement's own tariff schedule, annex, or administering secretariat -- never estimated or interpolated from a related agreement -- covering 108 destination countries across 20 agreements. Rules of origin (the test a product must pass to actually qualify for a preferential rate) are fully loaded for 16 of those 20 agreements; ChAFTA, GCC, Mercosur, and WAEMU aren't sourced yet.
Refresh cadence
Currency exchange rates refresh automatically every day from a live feed. Declaration requirements, duty rates, preferential rates, and CITES data are not on a continuous feed -- they're updated through periodic, deliberate research and import passes, the same discipline that built them the first time. A destination's own last-verified date (shown on /coverage) is the real freshness signal, not an assumption that everything updates at the same pace.
How HS2022 classification works
Each invoice line item is checked against Customs Declare's own HS2022 code database using full-text search over the product description, which returns a short list of the closest-matching candidate codes. A classification step then reasons over that shortlist only -- it is instructed to pick the best-fitting candidate or flag low confidence, never to select or invent a code outside the list it was given. If search returns no plausible candidates at all, the line item is flagged for manual classification instead of forcing a guess. A separate, earlier step reads the uploaded document itself (OCR/extraction) before this classification step runs.
What requires human review
Every declaration, without exception. HS codes, duty figures, and every flagged detail come back to you before anything is finalized, and a document only reaches a completed, ready-to-submit state after a human explicitly approves it -- there is no confidence level, including 100%, that skips this step. This applies the same way to every account, including admin accounts.
Known gaps and limitations
Named explicitly, not buried: rules of origin are missing for 4 of 20 trade agreements (ChAFTA, GCC, Mercosur, WAEMU); CITES coverage is a curated subset of species/product rules, not the full CITES appendices (the two comprehensive third-party sources we evaluated were ruled out over licensing terms, not fetched); export/import compliance rules are unresolved for Afghanistan, North Korea, and San Marino; Cuba has no VAT/GST rate on file; de minimis thresholds, import quotas, and customs valuation methodology aren't modeled at all yet; and the free, anonymous duty calculator has 15 of the 141 MFN-covered markets wired up for an instant result -- the rest require a workspace.
What Customs Declare does not warrant
Customs Declare does not submit, file, or transmit anything to a customs authority on your behalf -- you or your broker do that, using the document it produces. It is not a substitute for a licensed customs broker or legal advice, and it does not warrant that a generated declaration will be accepted without modification by any specific customs authority, since requirements and their interpretation vary and change. Any data point flagged as moderate, low, or unconfirmed confidence is exactly that -- a starting point for your own verification, not a guarantee.
Questions
Does Customs Declare submit declarations to customs authorities?
No. Customs Declare produces the completed declaration document for the destination's own form and authority, in that country's required language. You or your broker submit it -- nothing is ever transmitted to a customs authority automatically.
How current is the duty and declaration data?
FX rates refresh automatically every day. Declaration requirements, MFN duty rates, preferential rates, and CITES data are updated through periodic manual research and import passes, not a continuous feed. The /coverage page shows a last-verified date for every country's declaration requirements.
How does HS code classification work?
Each line item is checked against Customs Declare's own HS2022 code database using full-text search, and the resulting shortlist of candidates is the only set the classification step is allowed to choose from -- it cannot select a code that search didn't return, and it never fabricates one outside that shortlist. Nothing is finalized until you review and approve it.
Does every declaration require a human to approve it?
Yes, always, regardless of confidence level. A document only reaches a completed, ready-to-submit state after a human explicitly approves it -- there is no confidence threshold, including 100%, that skips this step.
What does "moderate" or "unconfirmed" confidence mean?
It means the form name, authority, or requirement for that destination hasn't been independently confirmed against a primary government source yet. As of this writing, 91 of 193 countries' declaration requirements are independently confirmed, 96 are at moderate confidence, and 6 are not yet independently verifiable.
What doesn't Customs Declare cover yet?
Rules of origin are fully loaded for 16 of the 20 trade agreements Customs Declare checks (not yet for ChAFTA, GCC, Mercosur, or WAEMU). CITES coverage is a curated subset, not the full CITES appendices. Export/import compliance rules are unresolved for Afghanistan, North Korea, and San Marino. Cuba has no VAT/GST rate on file. De minimis thresholds, import quotas, and customs valuation methodology aren't modeled at all yet. The free duty calculator has 15 of the 141 MFN-covered markets live; the rest require a workspace.
See the exact numbers behind every claim
The /coverage page is the same live dataset described here, broken down country by country.
View coverage