Can I do Anything to Help Prevent a Customs Exam?

Written by Bonita Fowlersmith

Updated at May 9th, 2025

U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) can randomly select shipments for exams, which means it’s not always possible to avoid inspections entirely. However, there are steps you can take to reduce your chances:

Accurate documentation: Ensure that all your paperwork is complete and matches your shipment exactly. Adhering to customs requirements for Commercial Invoices is essential—be sure to include details such as the Importer of Record, manufacturer, Country of Origin, item values, transaction currency, and detailed product descriptions.

Full Container Load (FCL) shipping: You can lower the likelihood of a customs exam by choosing to ship FCL rather than LCL (Less than Container Load). LCL shipments tend to be flagged for X-ray inspections more often than FCL shipments.

exam customs exam

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