C.A.D.: Cashing against documents.
CARGO AGENT: An agent appointed by an airline to solicit and process international air freight for shipments.
CARNET: A document with a dual purpose: An entry document used within the scope contemplated by the applicable convention where the carnet was created, and a document used as a bond for the performance of acts in compliance with the provisions of such convention and the Customs laws. (19CFR114.3)
CARRIER: One who undertakes to transport goods, merchandise or people. (19CFR112.1)
CARRIER LIABILITY: The obligation to deliver merchandise to its proper destination with reasonable speed and in the same condition it was in when received from the shipper.
CARTAGE AGENT: Ground service operator who provides pickup and delivery in areas not served directly by air carrier.
CASE LOT PICKING: Selection of full cases of a product when the order is less than a full pallet load.
CASUAL LABOR: Temporary workers used to meet peak workloads.
C.B.I.: Caribbean Basin Initiative.
C.C.: Current cost.
C.E.: Consumption entry.
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN: A document certified as to the origin of goods.
CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION: A document used to authenticate the description of the contents, the means of conveyance, and the date of departure of merchandise exported from the U.S..
C.F.: Customs Form.
cf: Cubic foot.
C & F NAMED PORT (C.F.R.): Cost and freight. The seller must pay the cost and freight necessary to bring the goods to the port of destination, not including insurance. The goods must be cleared for export.
CHARTER: The renting of an entire vessel, or part of its space, for a particular trip or period of time.
CHARGEABLE WEIGHT: The weight of the shipment used in determining air freight charges. The chargeable weight may be the dimensional weight or on container shipments, the gross weight of the shipment less the tare weight of the container.
CHOCKS: Triangular blocks of rubber, wood, or metal placed in front, between, or behind truck wheels to prevent accidental trailer movement.
C.I.: Cost and insurance.
C.I.A.: Cash in Advance.
C.I.F.: Cost, insurance, and freight. Same as C.F.R. plus insurance.
C.I.F. NAMED PORT: Same as C.F.R. plus insurance.
C.I.F.&C.: Same as C.I. F. plus commission.
C.I.F.&E.: Same as C.I.F. plus the exchange of currency from U.S. to foreign money.
C.I.P.: Carriage and insurance paid to... Same as C.P.T. plus cargo insurance.
CITY TERMINAL SERVICE: A service provided by some airlines to accept shipments at the terminals of their cartage agents or other designated in-town terminals or to deliver shipments to these terminals at lower rates than those charged for door to door pickup and delivery service.
C.L.: Car load, the minimum weight necessary to fully load a forty-foot rail car.
CLASS RATING: A single freight rate applicable to a group of commodities with similar attributes.
CLEAN BILL OF LADING: Document of receipt issued by the carrier when the goods are received in good order.
CLEAN DRAFT: A draft to which there are no attachments.
CLERICAL ERROR: An error made by a clerical level employee which does not involve knowledge of Customs matters. An error by a classifier would not fall into this area. An example would be number transposition, etc.
C/O. : Country of Origin
C.O.D.: Cash on delivery.
C.O.S.: Cash on shipment.
COLLECT BILL OF LADING: A bill of lading calling for charges to be paid by the consignee.
COLLECTION: Item received by a bank subject to collection of proceeds before being credited to the depositors' account.
COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS: The representative of the U.S. Treasury Department acting in connection with foreign traffic.
COMMERCIAL INVOICE: An invoice required to be presented to Customer representing one shipment of merchandise by one consignor to one consignee by one vessel or conveyance, which clearly identifies the product for classification and appraisement purposes.
COMMINGLED GOODS: The combining of merchandise in a shipment that makes the normal determination of duty impossible unless the importer segregates the merchandise or provides other proper evidence of the quantities of the various merchandise. (19CFR152.13)
COMMISSION: An amount paid to the seller's agent or the buyer's agent. May be dutiable.
COMMISSIONER: Commissioner of Customs. (19CFR114.1)
COMMODITY: A collection of materials or items with similar characteristics.
COMMODITY RATES: Fees applicable to a described commodity without regard to other freight classifications. Carriers typically charge commodity rates for a large movement made on a routine basis.
COMMON CARRIER: A carrier that transports goods at any time to any location for any shipper on a non-discriminatory basis.
COMPUTED VALUE: Approved additions of dutiable amounts accumulated to reach a value of merchandise for purposes of appraisement by Customs. (19CFR152.106)
CONCEALED DAMAGE: Damage to merchandise that is not discovered until the shipment is unpacked.
CONDITIONAL SALES CONTRACT: Merchandise that is sold under the condition that the title to the goods will not be transferred until full payment is received.
CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT: The terms and conditions established for a contract. These conditions are usually printed on the back of a waybill and include such items as limits of liability, claim limitation, indemnity, and dimensional weight rules.
CONSIGNED STOCK: Finished goods. Inventories in the hands of agents or dealers which are still the property of the supplier.
CONSIGNEE: A party to whom goods are delivered.
CONSIGNEE MARKS: A symbol placed on packages for export for identification purposes.
CONSIGNMENT: A movement in which the title to goods remains with the shipper until the buyer sells the goods.
CONSIGNOR: The party who originates a shipment of goods.? (Shipper)
CONSOLIDATOR: An entity that provides service also provided by a carrier, independent from that carrier, and derives income from package consolidation of others for tender to the carrier. A forwarder performs the functions of a consolidator.
CONSTRUCTIVE TRANSFER: A legal function that permits acceptance of a Customs entry for merchandise in a zone before its physical transfer to the Customs territory. (19CFR146.1)
CONSUL: A government official residing in a foreign country who is charged with the representation of the interests of their country.
CONSULAR DECLARATION: A formal statement describing goods to be shipped, made to the consul of the country of destination. Approval must be obtained prior to shipment.
CONSULAR INVOICE: An invoice for merchandise shipped from one country to another, prepared by the shipper and certified at the shipping point by a consul of the country of destination. The consul's certification applies to the value of the merchandise, the port of the shipment, the destination, and the place of actual origin of the merchandise.
CONSULATE: The jurisdiction, terms of office, or official premises of a consul.
CONSUMPTION ENTRY: An official form used for declaration of reported goods also showing the total duty due.
CONTAINER: An article of transport equipment, lift van, movable tank or similar structure.
CONTAINER STATION: A building, or part of a building, designated by the district director to serve as a receiving areas for containerized cargo moved from the place of unlading for the purpose of breaking bulk and redelivering the cargo. (19CFR19.40, 19.41)
CONTAINERIZATION: The practice or technique of using a boxlike device in which a number of packages are stored, protected, and handled as a single unit in transit.
CONVERTIBILITY: The ability of a currency to be exchanged for another.
CO-PRINCIPAL: When two people (eg: individual, partnership, corporation) join together with the same legal status to become the entity accepting primary liability for all government debts secured by a bond. (19CFR113.34)
COUNTERVAILING DUTY: The imposition of a special duty by the Customs service after the finding of foreign subsidies which influence the price paid or payable in the U.S. adversely affecting the domestic manufacturers.
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: The country where the goods are considered to have originated for customs purposes. The factors besides the cost of the materials involved are the cost of freight, insurance, packing, and all other costs of transferring the materials to the plant, waste, taxes and duty, etc..
COUNTRY OF EXPORTATION: Usually but not necessarily the country in which merchandise was manufactured or produced and from which it was first exported.
COURIER: Attendant who accompanies a shipment. Also, some courier companies provide a full transportation function, without accompanying attendants, offering door-to-door service for time sensitive documents or small packages on a same-day or next-day basis.
C.P.T.: Carriage paid to. The seller pays the freight to the named destination.
C.P.U.: That part of the computer that executes the instructions of a program.
C.R.: Carrier's risk.
CREDIT RISK INSURANCE: A form of insurance which protects the seller against loss due to default on the part of the buyer.
CUBIC CAPACITY: The carrying capacity within a conveyance or container according to the measure in cubic feet.
CULPABILITY: The degree to which an individual is responsible for a wrongdoing. The various degrees are Negligence, Gross negligence, and Fraud.
CUSTODIAL BOND: A basic covenant entered into by the obligators on a surety bond taken to secure the lawful activities of a custodian of any bonded articles, which describes the requirements of conveyance, protection, and general compliance in the handling of bonded merchandise. (19CFR113.63)
CUSTOMHOUSE: The government office where duties and/or taxes are placed on imports or exports and are paid.
CUSTOMHOUSE BROKER: A person or firm licensed by the Treasury department engaged in entering and clearing goods through Customs.
CUSTOMS: A Government authority designated to regulate the flow of goods to and from a country and to collect duties levied by a country on imports and or exports. The terms also applies to the procedures involved in such collection.
CUSTOMS COURT: A U.S. Customs Services court based in New York, N.Y., consisting of three 3-part divisions to which importers may appeal or "protest" classification and value decisions and certain other actions taken by the U.S. Customs Service.
CUSTOMS DECLARATION: A statement, oral or written, attesting to the correctness of description, quantity, value, use, etc., or merchandise offered for importation into the United States.
CUSTOMS INVOICE: A document that contains a declaration by the seller as to the value of the goods.
CUSTOMS TARIFF: A schedule of charges assessed by the federal government on imported and/or exported goods.
C.W.O.: Cash with order.
C.W.T.: Hundredweight.