How it works
How SureTariff gets to the right code, and shows you why.
Most people know they need a tariff code. Far fewer see how that code is actually arrived at, or that it can be verified live, from real product data, before pricing is locked. Here is how.
Every product needs a code before it crosses a border.
Before anything is imported it needs a tariff code, and that code decides the duty rate. HS and HTS mean the same thing here: the Harmonized System is the shared international base, and each region extends it into its own full code.
The catch is that the exact digits differ by region, so the same product can carry a different code, and a different duty rate, into the UK, the US, or the EU. This is the thing everyone knows they need but rarely understands.
One product, one code per region
Women's cotton corduroy trousers, 100% cotton
6204623300
6204.62.1506
The importer is the one on the hook.
Not the broker, not the supplier. You are legally accountable for the exact code declared on every item. Get it wrong and it escalates, and it costs you in four different places at once.
Duty and tax
Over-payment quietly erodes margin, under-payment invites penalties and back-dated duty with interest, and the wrong code can expose you to antidumping charges.
Supply-chain reliability
A questioned code means border holds and demurrage, and stock that should be on the shelf sitting in a port instead.
Trade agreements
A single wrong digit can forfeit a free-trade agreement's preferential rate, or miss a permit the shipment needed to move.
Landed cost and margin
Procurement needs the exact code to cost a product truthfully before it is priced. Guess it, and every margin built on top is a guess too.
Why the usual ways of getting a code struggle.
Every existing route has a catch, which is why so many importers are quietly unsure whether their codes are right.
Doing it by hand
Manual classification is slow and needs rare expertise that most teams do not have in-house.
Leaning on a broker
Brokers can be costly, and the reasoning behind a code can be opaque, so you are trusting rather than checking.
Reusing a spreadsheet
A saved list is a snapshot that decays. Last year's codes may not be this year's codes.
Keeping up with the rules
Classification rules keep moving. Something that was right becomes wrong without anyone telling you.
The common thread: none of them are live.
The approach
A deterministic engine, working from your real product data.
This is the part people rarely see: how a code is actually arrived at. SureTariff combines a deterministic, guardrailed process with several AI steps, working from your real product data, live, not from a stale snapshot.
Upload
Bring your products in by CSV, your PLM, or the API, with the detail that matters: materials, construction, and end use.
Guardrailed classification
The engine works through the tariff logic within fixed guardrails, cross-referenced against official government databases, for each region you need.
Confirmed code
You get the code, a confidence score, and the reasoning behind it, ready to confirm and use.
A confidence score and reasoning on every code.
This is what makes automation safe here. Every code carries a confidence score and a plain-language narrative explaining the choice.
That means you stay in control. You can see the reasoning and confirm, rather than trusting a black box. Start having confidence in your tariff codes, and see exactly why each one is right.
6204.62.1506
check_circle97.5% confidence
"Women's trousers, cotton corduroy, woven fabric. Classified under Chapter 62: articles of apparel, not knitted. Subheading 6204: women's trousers, with the cotton construction setting the final digits."
Honest when the answer is not clear-cut.
When two codes are genuinely plausible, SureTariff does not guess silently. It presents the options, each with its own narrative, so confirming is a fast, informed choice. And when a missing detail would change the outcome, it tells you exactly what is needed and why, rather than papering over it. Ambiguity is surfaced, not hidden.
The product record does not say whether the mug is hand-finished or machine-made. That single attribute sends it down two different commodity codes, carrying two different duty rates. Nothing else in the data resolves it.
Rather than pick one and move on, SureTariff holds the product, shows you both candidate codes with the reasoning for each, and asks the one question that settles it. You answer in your terminal and the classification completes, with your answer recorded against the product.
This is the only reason a product is ever held back. A code is never guessed to keep a batch moving.
Three ways in
Meet your team where it already works.
Same guardrails, same confidence and reasoning, three ways to get products in and codes back.
CSV upload
A neutral route for anyone. Upload a file of products, download classified results. No PLM and no technical setup required.
WFX PLM connector
Live for WFX PLM, the first of several planned connectors. It pulls products in and writes codes back, with no re-keying.
REST API
Included on every plan. Push product data in and pull classifications out, straight into your ERP or costing tools.
Whichever route you use, the same three things come back on every product. Over the API that looks like this.
"confidence": 0.97, "reasoning": "100% cotton satisfies 6105100000..." },
"confidence": 0.96, "reasoning": "Knitted construction places it in Chapter 61..." }
Your terminal
One place to watch the work happen.
Every customer gets their own terminal. It is where classifications run, where questions come back to you, and where results leave for the rest of your systems.
A dashboard over everything
See what has been classified, what is in progress, and what is waiting on you. Volumes, confidence and history are all in one view rather than scattered across spreadsheets and inboxes.
The workflows, in the open
Follow each batch through the steps it takes. You can see where a product is in the process and what the engine did at every stage, so nothing happens out of sight.
Answer the open questions
Where a determination cannot be made directly because product information is missing, the system raises it as a suggestion. You respond in the terminal, and the classification completes with your input on the record.
Data in, results out
Upload products and download finished classifications directly, or connect the terminal to your PLM, ERP or costing tools and let it move the data for you.
Terminal access is set up for you as part of onboarding.
Know the right code, and why, before it costs you.
See it on your own products. Join a demo today.