How Avenor's Importer of Record Works for Non-Alcoholic Brands

Avenor is the importer of record for the non-alcoholic beverage brands it runs in the United States. Every shipment needs a US party named as importer of record on the customs entry, and for a European founder with no US entity that party is the first wall. We stand in it. The pallet clears under our name; we own the customs classification, the entry filing, the duties and the continuous bond, and the legal responsibility for the goods as they cross. We are also the US agent for the FDA, the FSVP importer, and the party that files Prior Notice before each shipment lands. This page sets out what the role is, what we hold, and where the edges are.

What an importer of record does for a non-alcoholic beverage

The importer of record, IOR for short, is the US party responsible to Customs and Border Protection for a shipment: that the goods are classified correctly, that the entry is filed, that duties are paid, and that the shipment complies with every US law that applies to it. For an FDA-regulated beverage, that last clause is most of the work. A non-alcoholic drink under 0.5% ABV is, in most cases, a food. The FDA regulates it, and the laws that attach to its import are food laws: facility registration for the producer, a US agent, the Foreign Supplier Verification Program, Prior Notice, and an FDA-format label.

An importer of record can be the brand's own US company, a distributor, a customs broker acting as a service, or an operator like us. What changes between them is what else the party carries. A broker files the entry and stops. A distributor takes title and sells cases. We hold the import compliance and run the operation above it.

Avenor as importer of record: what we hold

For a brand we run, the importer-of-record role covers the following, under our name and our responsibility.

• Classification. Non-alcoholic beverages classify under HS heading 2202; the subheading decides the duty. We set it before the first invoice.
• Entry, duties and bond. The customs entry is filed under our importer number, duties are paid on our account, and our continuous bond covers the shipment.
• US agent for the FDA. The producer's facility registration names a US agent who answers to the FDA on the facility's behalf. We are that agent.
• FSVP importer. The Foreign Supplier Verification Program makes the US importer responsible for verifying the foreign supplier's food safety. We build and hold the FSVP file: the hazard analysis review, the supplier verification, the records the FDA can ask to see.
• Prior Notice. Every food shipment into the US needs Prior Notice filed with the FDA before arrival. We file it for each shipment.
• Label review before the bottle ships. An FDA-format label, Nutrition Facts panel, allergens, net contents in US units, and the wording rules for "non-alcoholic," "alcohol-free" and "0.0%." Reprints are the most expensive mistake a first shipment can make, so this happens before it.

Fulfillment starts where the entry ends: the cleared pallet goes to a food-grade 3PL we have chosen for glass and single-unit shipping, and from there to consumers, Amazon and trade. Our guide to the importer of record and 3PL together covers that hand-off.

The FSVP importer and the US agent are two roles

They are often confused and they are not the same party by law. The US agent is named on the foreign facility's FDA registration and is the FDA's point of contact for that facility. The FSVP importer is the US owner or consignee of the food at entry, or, where there is none, the US party the foreign owner designates in writing to carry the verification obligation. A brand with no US entity has no owner or consignee at entry, which is why it needs someone willing to be designated. Many distributors decline that designation; the obligation is real and the records are inspectable. For the brands we run, we hold both roles, so the FDA has one party to call and the brand has one file.

A non-alcoholic beverage importer works in the FDA lane

The reason an alcohol importer is the wrong tool for most non-alcoholic products is the lane. An alcoholic beverage needs a TTB import permit, a Certificate of Label Approval before it ships, and a licensed importer and wholesaler in each state under the three-tier system. A beverage under 0.5% ABV needs none of those in most states. It needs the FDA work above, and once that is done it can sell direct to a consumer, list on Amazon, and ship to a retailer without a wholesaler in between. Our guide to FDA and TTB jurisdiction sets out the line.

The lane has two exceptions and we say so plainly. A malt-based non-alcoholic beer stays under TTB at any ABV. A dealcoholized wine made from a base that crossed 7% ABV can still attract TTB jurisdiction. For those products an alcohol-licensed importer holds the permits, and we run the brand above that importer as one of the partners we coordinate.

How the first shipment runs

1. We classify the product, confirm the lane, and review the label against FDA rules.
2. The producer registers its facility with the FDA, or we confirm the registration, and names Avenor as US agent.
3. The foreign owner designates Avenor as FSVP importer in writing, and we build the FSVP file before anything ships.
4. The 3PL is chosen and set up to receive: food-grade, lot-tracked, ready for glass.
5. Prior Notice is filed for the shipment. The entry is filed under our name; duties and bond are ours.
6. The pallet clears and moves to the 3PL. Orders can ship the week it lands.

The brand ships from origin and sees each step in AvenorOS. Nothing in the chain waits on a US company the brand does not have.

What the importer of record does not decide

Holding the entry does not make us the owner of the brand. The trademark, the brand registrations, the storefront, the customer list and the customer data stay in the brand's name, and our contracts are written that way. We do not sell distribution: we place brands with distributors and retail buyers and coordinate them. We do not produce or bottle. The importer-of-record role is the legal ground the operation stands on, and the operation is the point.

Who this is for

We hold the importer of record for the brands we run, as part of running them. If what a brand needs is an entry filed and nothing else, a licensed customs broker does that job well and costs less than an operator. Our guide on whether a non-alcoholic brand needs a US importer of record sets out the models side by side, from a broker to a distributor to a partner to the brand's own entity, and which one fits a brand at each stage. If the answer is an operator, write to us with the product and the first market and we will tell you which lane it is in and what the first shipment needs.