HTS classification and regulatory compliance platform for US importers and exporters

The Need

Thomson Reuters recognized that US importers and exporters faced critical challenges in accurately classifying products under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) and maintaining compliance with complex, constantly-changing trade regulations.

Incorrect HTS classification can result in overpaid duties, customs penalties, shipment delays, and compliance violations, yet the HTS contains over 17,000 classification codes with nuanced distinctions that require expert interpretation.

Beyond classification, trade professionals must track regulatory requirements from multiple government agencies—FDA for food and drugs, EPA for environmental products, DEA for controlled substances, and others—each with specific documentation, testing, and clearance requirements. Existing solutions provided static tariff data but lacked integration with regulatory databases, offered no automated compliance tracking, required manual research across multiple government websites, and couldn't keep pace with regulatory updates and trade policy changes.

Thomson Reuters needed a comprehensive web platform co-branded as Global Trade Analyzer (GTA) that would deliver detailed Harmonized Tariff Schedule data, integrate with US Partner Government Agencies (PGAs) for automated regulatory compliance tracking, and handle complex data flows with live updates as trade regulations evolved.

With the goal of processing 150,000+ import classifications and providing access to $75,000 worth of compliance documents, Thomson Reuters required an enterprise-grade trade compliance platform that would become indispensable for US import/export operations.

The Solution

We built and co-branded Global Trade Analyzer with Thomson Reuters, creating a comprehensive platform that transformed how US importers and exporters manage HTS classification and regulatory compliance.

The Joint Platform with Thomson Reuters was built and co-branded as GTA (Global Trade Analyzer), used by US importers and exporters for HTS classification and compliance tracking.

The platform provides comprehensive HTS database containing all 17,000+ tariff classifications with detailed descriptions, duty rates, special trade program eligibility, and classification guidance. Users can search by product description, HTS code, or keywords, with intelligent search algorithms suggesting relevant classifications even when users aren't sure of proper technical terminology.

Each HTS entry includes duty rates under normal trade relations, special program rates (GSA, NAFTA/USMCA, etc.), and historical rate data enabling users to understand cost implications of classification decisions.

The co-branding with Thomson Reuters leverages their reputation as the authoritative source for trade information, giving the platform immediate credibility with customs brokers, compliance professionals, and corporate trade departments.

The Integration with US PGAs (Partner Government Agencies) provides automated access to regulatory data from agencies like FDA (Food and Drug Administration), EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), and DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), supporting customs clearance and risk mitigation.

When users classify products, the system automatically identifies which PGAs have jurisdiction, displays specific regulatory requirements (permits, certifications, testing, labeling), provides access to relevant forms and guidance documents, alerts users to recent regulatory changes affecting their products, and tracks compliance status.

This integration transforms GTA from a tariff lookup tool into a comprehensive trade compliance platform. Rather than researching multiple government websites to understand requirements, users get consolidated, product-specific compliance guidance within GTA, dramatically reducing research time and compliance risk.

The Built for Scale & Accuracy component leverages .NET/C# and SQL Server to handle complex data flows, classification mappings, and live updates for trade regulations.

The platform architecture supports high concurrent user loads as trade professionals simultaneously research classifications and compliance requirements, maintains massive databases of tariff classifications with historical versions and effective dates, processes complex queries searching across product descriptions, notes, and regulatory data, implements data synchronization mechanisms pulling updates from government sources, and ensures data accuracy critical for compliance decisions where errors have financial and legal consequences.

SQL Server provides the robust, reliable data management infrastructure essential for mission-critical trade compliance applications, while .NET/C# delivers the performance and scalability required as Thomson Reuters' client base grows.

The platform's success is demonstrated by its substantial usage: processing 150,000+ import classifications helping users determine correct HTS codes for their products, and providing access to $75,000 worth of compliance documents including regulatory forms, guidance documents, and agency updates that would otherwise require expensive subscriptions or laborious research across multiple government websites.

The Challenge

The primary challenge was creating and maintaining an HTS database that remained current as tariff rates changed, trade agreements evolved, and classifications were clarified or modified by customs authorities. The HTS is a living document with frequent updates, and users depend on GTA providing accurate, current information.

Building automated data synchronization from government sources, implementing version control tracking when rates or classifications changed, and notifying users of changes affecting their products required sophisticated data management infrastructure.

Integrating with multiple US Partner Government Agencies each with different data formats, update frequencies, and API capabilities (or lack thereof) presented significant technical challenges.

Some agencies provide structured data feeds, others only publish PDFs or HTML, and regulations often require human interpretation. Building automated systems that could aggregate this disparate information, structure it for searchability, and present it coherently required extensive data engineering and continuous maintenance as agency systems evolved.

Creating intelligent classification search that could help users find appropriate HTS codes even when they didn't know precise technical terminology required advanced search algorithms.

Users might describe products colloquially ("kitchen sponges") while HTS classifications use technical language ("articles of cellular plastics for domestic use"). The search engine needed to bridge this terminology gap through synonyms, related terms, and machine learning from past successful searches.

Building a platform that could scale to support Thomson Reuters' growing client base—customs brokers serving hundreds of importers, corporate trade departments managing thousands of product lines, and consulting firms researching classifications for diverse clients—required architecting for concurrent access, query performance, and data volume. The system needed sub-second search response times even as the database grew and usage increased.

Ensuring data accuracy where errors could lead to customs penalties, shipment delays, or compliance violations required rigorous quality assurance, validation against authoritative government sources, and clear attribution of data provenance so users understood they were accessing official information rather than third-party interpretations.

The Partnership

Our collaboration with Thomson Reuters was driven by their vision to provide US trade professionals with a comprehensive, authoritative platform for HTS classification and regulatory compliance.

We worked closely with their product team, trade compliance experts, and target customers to design a platform that would genuinely serve the complex needs of international trade operations.

The partnership involved co-branding the platform as Global Trade Analyzer, leveraging Thomson Reuters' reputation while building on Kaz Software's technical capabilities.

This joint platform approach combined Thomson Reuters' domain expertise, data relationships with government agencies, and market presence with our software development, data engineering, and platform architecture capabilities.

We built the complete technology stack using Microsoft .NET/C# with ASP.NET frontend styled with HTML5 and CSS, and Microsoft SQL Server for robust data management and performance.

The platform handles complex data flows synchronizing tariff and regulatory information from multiple sources, implements sophisticated search and classification algorithms, and manages live updates as trade regulations evolve.

We designed and implemented the PGA integration mechanisms pulling regulatory data from FDA, EPA, DEA, and other agencies, structuring diverse information for consistency and searchability.

Our team also built the HTS classification engine, compliance tracking workflows, and user interfaces balancing comprehensiveness with usability.

The measurable success—processing 150,000+ import classifications and providing access to $75,000 worth of compliance documents—demonstrates how this collaborative approach created a platform that delivers genuine value to US importers and exporters navigating the complex landscape of international trade compliance.

The Tech Stack

We built the platform using Microsoft .NET/C# with an ASP.NET frontend styled with HTML5 and CSS, backed by Microsoft SQL Server for robust data management and performance.

.NET/C# provides the enterprise-grade framework for handling complex business logic including HTS classification algorithms, PGA integration workflows, regulatory data processing, and compliance tracking. ASP.NET delivers the web application framework providing importers and exporters with responsive, accessible interfaces for product classification, compliance research, and regulatory tracking. HTML5 and CSS enable modern, standards-compliant web interfaces that work across devices and browsers.

SQL Server ensures reliable, scalable data management for the comprehensive HTS database with 17,000+ classification codes, massive collections of regulatory documents and forms from partner government agencies, user classification history and saved searches, and audit trails of data updates and regulatory changes.

The platform handles complex data flows synchronizing information from US Customs, FDA, EPA, DEA, and other government sources, implements classification mappings connecting products to HTS codes and relevant regulations, and manages live updates ensuring users always access current tariff rates and regulatory requirements.

The architecture delivers the joint platform co-branded with Thomson Reuters for authoritative HTS classification, integrated PGA access providing automated regulatory compliance tracking, and the scale and accuracy needed to process 150,000+ import classifications while providing access to $75,000 worth of compliance documents—transforming how US importers and exporters manage the complex requirements of international trade.