The Customs Department is introducing a new feature to improve transparency around importing goods to the island using the Customs Automated Processing System (CAPS).

From today, Monday, 24th October, the department will email the importer on any Bermuda Customs Declarations (BCDs) in cases where the party submitting the BCD has a different CAPS ID than the person importing the goods.

This feature will provide the person who ordered the shipment (the importer) with greater transparency throughout the process and give them the BCD(s) made in their name by third parties (e.g. courier services, freight forwarders, etc.).

Importers will then have the advantage of knowing when a BCD has been made on their behalf, along with the BCD number(s) and the Trader Reference number(s), to assist when inquiring about the status of their shipments with the declarant.

The Collector of Customs, Lucinda Pearman, explained, “Some importers are unaware of BCDs filed in their name by third-party agents, which in some instances, has resulted in the department carrying out enforcement action. It’s hoped that this approach will resolve this.

“The new process will automatically email any importer whenever a BCD is submitted on their behalf by a declaring party with a different CAPS ID number from the importer.”

With the new process, an email will be sent to the importer’s primary email addresses registered with Customs.

The email will be sent from caps@gov.bm. The Customs Department advises the public to check their email settings to ensure that this email address is not flagged as spam. It’s important to note that you should not send a reply to this email address.

This feature will also allow the importer to contact Customs if they believe the BCD may have been submitted in error or if the importer was unaware of a shipment.

If you wish to contact Customs regarding an email you have received through this new process, please forward the email alert to customs@gov.bm and state your concern.

For more information on the policy, please follow this link: https://www.gov.bm/sites/default/files/CUSTOMS_Importer_BCD_Email_Alert.pdf