What ImportPreflight is, and why it exists
US import compliance is a stack of overlapping rules: HTS classification, FDA and other PGA programs, forced-labor and entity screening, and recordkeeping for “reasonable care.” Brokerage teams live in ABI, email, and spreadsheets. Most software either files the entry or classifies a single SKU — not both, and rarely with a written trail you can hand to a reviewer before anything hits CBP.
ImportPreflight is an upstream pre-screener (see ADR-0053): you upload a whole catalog, we run the same deterministic pipeline on every line, and you get ACTION labels (HOLD, REVIEW, CAUTION, CLEAR) plus flag columns and text rationales. It is not a replacement for a licensed broker, not an ACE filer, and not a general-purpose HTS “chat” product. It is the step before the ABI row — where you still control the filing system you already use.
The pipeline scores products with a keyword-driven HTS mapping from the public USITC HTSUS dataset, FDA import-alert heuristics tied to a refreshable snapshot, UFLPA priority sectors and entity-name screening, and BIS Entity List matching — all in one pass, with reasons stored in the job result JSON that the UI and CSV/PDF exports read. Refresh commands in the repo (for example for FDA and entity data) are how operators keep bundled snapshots from drifting without forking the core product.
What ImportPreflight is not
Not legal advice or a substitute for broker judgment. The recommendation is rules-driven; your firm still decides what ships and how the entry is filed.
Not an ECCN or export full classification product. BIS in ImportPreflight is framed around Entity List and supply-chain context for importers, not end-item ECCN for exporters.
Not a CBP/ACE replacement. There is no direct transmission to CBP; exports are CSV/PDF and API-shaped data for your existing workflow.