Business

The Role of ITN in Import and Export

Just like when you want to travel out of country, you require a passport as valid identity proof, moving goods across countries also require a similar verification in the form of ITN.  As your passport verifies your identity and hold all necessary information about you, ITN in stores all the important information about the goods being shipped to other countries.   

What is the ITN?

The ITN or the Internal Transaction Number is the number you will receive after your EEI or Electronic Export Information has been accepted in the Automated Export System or AES. The filers will receive a direct email with their ITN once their application gets accepted. This number begins with an X followed by the year, month, and day it got accepted along with a 6-digit random number, which is specifically assigned to you. For example, if your application gets accepted on January 20th, 2022, your ITN will look like X20220120666666. 

If you want your packages to clear the Customs at the port of export and have them moving along their journey, you need to have the ITN clear at the below points:

  • Air waybill
  • Bill of lading
  • Export shipping instructions
  • Other commercial loading documents

Contrary to how we travel internationally, some exceptions apply to the ITN requirements. This includes:

  • There will be no license requirement if the export transactions are valued at or under the amount of $2500.
  • ITN will not be required for non-licensed export transactions that are destined to Canada.

Apart from these exceptions, your shipment will not be accepted through any of the carriers like planes, vessels, trucks, or trains if your export shipment does not have a corresponding ITN. It is almost impossible to export your merchandise across the nations without an ITN. 

You can find all the details about the ITN from your broker or on the official customs page of the country you are exporting the goods from. The brokers will be essentially helping you through the entire process, including the paperwork, and will be present with you at the time of actual transport too.

So ITN forms an integral part of your shipment. And, availing of a professional help can streamline the entire process for you. To avoid all the hassles, now you can get an ITN number from Clearit.ca and proceed smoothly with your export process.