Inward Processing on the GRAJ protocol. One fee. 195 countries. Join the protocol.
Goods brought in to be worked on and sent out again should not attract duty as though they were being sold locally. Inward processing is the established relief for that, and it is under-used far more often than it is unavailable.
It suspends or refunds duty and import tax on goods imported for processing and subsequent re-export. Without it a contract manufacturer pays duty on materials that never enter the local market, on every consignment, forever.
Anyone importing goods to work on rather than to sell into the local market. The relief is not category-specific and not restricted to large operations — the constraint is the record-keeping rather than the size of the business.
Authorisation is granted against an obligation to account for every unit: what came in, what it became, what left and what was scrapped. The relief is straightforward; the record-keeping is the actual requirement and is what gets audited.
Bonded warehousing defers duty until goods leave storage. Drawback reclaims duty already paid on goods later exported. Free zones treat an area as outside the customs territory. Each fits a different pattern and they are frequently confused with each other.