WorkflowCustoms Brokerage

ICS2 Filing

ICS2 filing worked against tonight's departures: each house checked before it is lodged, each referral answered with its reference, and two licensed brokers on each amendment.

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See one ICS2 referral answered screen by screen ↓

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The problem

A house filed as pump parts can keep a whole consolidation on the ground

House data lands from the forwarder's system on the morning of departure. A filing specialist checks description, code, parties, pieces and weight by eye, chases gaps by email and lodges the houses in the forwarder's name. The vague ones pass that step and come back hours later as a request for information or for screening, often near the handler's cut-off, when the shipper's export desk may have gone home.

The answer is an amendment typed by hand against the clock, and without the referral request reference customs does not count it. A screening request nobody passes to the airline stays open. Some airlines hold the whole master while one house is open.

Built forICS2 filing specialistsFiling leadsExport operations managersCustoms brokerage owners

The Problem Today

A general description filed in the morning returns as a customs question near the cut-off, and the whole master can wait on it.

7+1: data elements EU customs needs before the aircraft is loaded published
4 hours: before arrival: the full declaration's deadline on long flights published

Chased by hand before each cut-off

Client data
Email chase
Messages
Cut-offs

Answers arrive as free textDescriptions retyped from emails late in the afternoon
Amendments that answer nothingWithout its reference, the referral stays open

The Solution

Each house on one boardEvery tile set against its own flight's cut-off
Clients answer in fieldsRequests go to the client and the airline; notes go to a person
Read as customs wouldThe challenger caught the agents' own missing reference
Two brokers sign, then sendAnswering in time and pulling the house priced before anyone decides

Built-in controls

Nothing lodged or amended without two people
A person reads each client note before signing
Screening stays with the airline

What You Get

The broker lodges clean house data the first time and answers customs while the flight can still take the house.

Weak wording caught earlySimilar houses held before they draw the same question
Pulls priced before the callEach option's cost shown with its assumptions
Rulings turned into rulesApplied only once the brokerage owner approves

Features

ICS2 filing features, from the client's house file to an amendment in ICS2

Used by the filing specialist, the filing lead and the operations manager to lodge EU air house data and answer referrals before the handler's cut-off, on one consolidation bound for Amsterdam.

demoSample data: the brokerage, its clients, the airline, flights, people and figures.

01Departures board
ICS2 filing board with each house air waybill against its flight's cut-off
- Tonight's EU flights sorted by cut-off. The specialist sees which consolidation runs out of time first, with a countdown per row in place of a spreadsheet of cut-offs.
- Each house a tile in its ICS2 state. Assessment complete, information or screening requested, do not load, rejected and held read at a glance across clients.
- One next step on the shortest clock. The open house nearest its cut-off is named first, so nobody works a quiet flight while a full one waits.
02Referral
ICS2 referral read the moment it lands, with its referral request reference
- The customs message beside the house as filed. Message type, referral request reference and the question sit next to the filed data, so nothing is retyped.
- Each filed field tied to its document. House air waybill, handler scan, client file line and invoice open from the field, so the agents are checked against paper.
- The morning's decision kept on the house. Why a general description was lodged, and which licensed broker decided, sits on the record the referral lands on.
03Risk read
ICS2 goods description and party checks read as the EU risk engine would
- Stop words and general terms flagged before lodging. A description the EU list rejects or questions is caught while the client's export desk can still answer it.
- House consignor checked against the forwarder. A forwarder, carrier or consolidator mapped as consignor is stopped before customs sees it, the agents' own slips included.
- One goods item per HS code. Two goods under one code are split into separate goods items before the house is filed.
04Steer
Similar houses held mid-run before they draw the same ICS2 referral
- A plain instruction typed into the plan. The specialist holds a client's houses with parts in the description until a set time, and the hold applies immediately.
- Lodged houses left untouched. Only houses not yet filed are held, so a steer cannot change a filing already with customs.
- A release waits for the filing lead. Tightening is instant; letting a held house go takes the filing lead's own release.
05Data requests
Client and airline requests in fixed fields, reviewed before anything goes out
- The fields asked, listed as they will be sent. Description, HS code, goods items, pieces, gross weight and the invoice: the coordinator answers what the amendment needs.
- The airline asked to confirm screening. A screening request goes to the carrier's security contact with booked or not, time and pieces, because the screening itself is the airline's.
- Sent by the specialist, never by an agent. A client receives only questions someone at the brokerage has read.
06Amendment
IE3A26 amendment built from the client's fields and challenged before signing
- Was and now, element by element. The specialist sees which elements of the house filing change and which stay as lodged before anyone signs.
- Referral reference checked on the draft. An amendment the agents drafted cannot reach signing without the reference customs needs to count it as the answer.
- Client weight read against the handler's scan. A declared weight outside the tolerance becomes a point for a named person before customs sees the amendment.
07Cut-off what-if
Answer the referral in time or pull the house, priced on the airline's terms
- Both paths priced before anyone decides. Split fee and storage for a pull are set against a held master if the answer comes late.
- Assumptions shown and editable. Minutes to assessment and to sign, storage rate and split fee are inputs the operations manager can change.
- The pull stays with operations. The agents price; the operations manager decides a pull, and the specialist's board moves the house.
08Preparer
Client free text read by a person, then the preparer signs with a reason
- Notes shown in the client's exact words. Free text never becomes filing data; it stays outside the comparison and blocks signing until someone named has read it.
- Reason code and reason in the signer's words. The record says why the amendment answers the referral, in the specialist's own sentence.
- The signature's meaning stated in the dialog. The preparer signs knowing the amendment reaches ICS2 only after a second licensed broker signs it.
09Second person
The filing lead opens the IE3A26 before signing and sending it to ICS2
- Sign disabled until the amendment is opened. The filing lead signs after reading the amendment itself, with its referral message, client answer and invoice one click away.
- The preparer cannot sign second. Each filing and amendment carries two licensed brokers.
- Transmitted only after both signatures. The amendment goes out once both are on it, with both reasons in the audit trail.

Four desks behind ICS2 compliance at an EU-lane customs brokerage

Lodging, second signature, pulls and client terms each sit with a different desk.

ICS2 filing specialists

Lodge each client's house filings and answer each referral before the cut-off

Tonight's houses on one board by cut-off
Client data requests drafted in fixed fields
Similar houses held with one typed steer

Filing leads

Open and sign each batch and amendment as second licensed broker

Signature blocked until the amendment is opened
Holds released only by them, with a reason
Their rulings shown when the same wording returns

Export operations managers

Own cut-offs, airline terms and the decision to pull a house

Answer in time and pull priced side by side
Each airline's rule for an open house
A pull that reaches the specialist's board

Customs brokerage owners

Set client terms, approve learned rules and settings

Referrals per client and why they came
Who may instruct file as is, per client
Learned rules held until they approve

More screens

The client portal, tomorrow's houses and the referral report per client

What the client sees, what is still to be lodged, and what a month of client data drew from customs.

Client portal: request SD-2611-0219 answered with centrifugal pump impellers of stainless steel, HS 841391, 1 goods item, 3 pieces and 412 kg — **The client's answer**The export coordinator answers in five fields and attaches the invoice. Someone at the brokerage reads the note box; it changes nothing on its own.

Departures board at 16:31: amendment sent on SMP 714 and waiting for ICS2, a screening request still open, 1 h 09 min to the cut-off — **After the amendment**At 16:31 the amendment is sent and the house is being assessed again. A screening request on the same master is still open, so the flight is not safe yet.

House data in: client files for 64 houses on 6 flights, five houses not filed with two held to 17:00, and tomorrow's houses passing the stop-word list — **House data in**Today's client files, the houses not yet filed, and tomorrow's houses already read against the stop-word list.

Cut-offs and pulls: six flights with houses, open houses and weight, each airline's rule for an open house at cut-off, and the last do-not-load — **Cut-offs and airline terms**What each airline does with one open house at cut-off: some hold only that house, others the whole master.

Client referral report: 1,912 house filings, 41 requests for information, 9 screening requests, 6 rejected and 1 do not load across three clients — **Referrals by client**What each forwarder's data drew from customs over the month, per 1,000 filings, and why.

Proposed rule R-14 drawn from two filing-lead rulings, waiting for owner approval, above the rules in force on consignors, goods items and references — **A ruling becomes a rule**Two of the filing lead's rulings on parts wording become a proposed rule. It changes intake only after the brokerage owner approves it.

Audit trail: the amendment transmitted at 16:31 after two signatures, the client's note read at 15:50, the steer at 15:31 and the batch released at 14:56 — **Audit trail**From the batch release at 14:56 to the transmission at 16:31, each action is listed with its reason and the meaning of any signature.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Eight agents check, draft and price; screening and pulls stay with people

Each reads, drafts or prices for the house in front of it, then passes the house on.

Intake reader

Reads each client's house file and maps it to house filings.

Never files
Edits no client data without a source

Data checker

Checks each field against the invoice, house air waybill, handler scan and the stop-word list.

Fills no field from a guess
Files nothing on its own say-so

Risk reader

Reads each house and each draft as the EU risk engine would and lists what would draw a referral, its own team's drafts included.

Decides no filing
Judges no party

Filer

Drafts filings and amendments with the referral reference and transmits them after two signatures.

Never transmits without a second person

Referral reader

Reads each ICS2 message as it lands and turns the house's tile.

Never guesses why customs asked

Client contact

Drafts fixed-field data requests to clients and reads their replies.

Sends only when the specialist does
Never files a client's typed note as data

Airline contact

Asks the airline to confirm screening and tracks the result.

Never screens or arranges screening itself

Cut-off planner

Prices answering in time against pulling the house, on the airline's terms.

Chooses nothing: pulls are the operations manager's

Lodging, screening and a do-not-load stay with named people

Agents draft and price. Calls that bind the brokerage are made by licensed or accountable people, on the record.

Filing aloneA filing or amendment leaves for ICS2 after the specialist prepares it and the filing lead has opened and signed it.

High-risk cargo screeningScreening is booked and reported by the airline or its regulated agent. The agents only ask the airline to confirm it.

Reading a do-not-loadA do-not-load is customs' instruction to the carrier. Agents never explain it or guess at it.

Pulling a houseThe export operations manager decides a pull after seeing both paths priced.

Calling a party a riskNo agent rates a client, shipper or consignee. A challenger point closes on a cited document or a person's decision.

Client terms and rulesWho may instruct a filing as is, and each learned rule, is the brokerage owner's call.

What customs brokers ask about ICS2 filing and referrals

What is ICS2 filing?

ICS2 filing is lodging entry summary declaration data in the EU's ICS2 for goods brought into the EU. For air cargo, the forwarder that issues house air waybills, or a broker as its representative, files the house data and the airline files the master. Here agents check each house and draft each answer, and two licensed brokers sign.

What are the ICS2 compliance requirements for air cargo?

Pre-loading data reaches ICS2 as early as possible and at the latest before loading. The full declaration follows at the latest four hours before arrival on long flights, or by actual departure on shorter ones. Declarant and representative are identified by EORI, goods descriptions cannot be general terms or stop words alone, and referrals have to be answered.

What is PLACI in air cargo?

Pre-loading advance cargo information: seven data elements, consignor, consignee, pieces, gross weight and goods description among them, plus the house or master air waybill number, sent before the aircraft is loaded so customs can rule out a threat to the flight.

How do you answer an ICS2 referral?

A request for information is answered by amending the filing and quoting the referral request reference; without it, customs does not take the amendment as the answer. High-risk cargo screening is the airline's to carry out, so the broker asks the airline to confirm it is booked.

What happens if a referral is still open at the cut-off?

That depends on the airline. Some hold only the open house; others hold the whole master air waybill until each house on it is assessment complete. The export operations manager decides whether to pull one house to the next flight.

Can a client tell us to file a description as is?

Only a named client contact, in writing, under terms the brokerage owner sets. A flag still stops the house until a licensed broker decides with a reason, and a second person sees both before the batch is released. A code known to be wrong is not filed on a client's word.

Customs Brokerage