The Declarant · by Orcavera
Stop approving import orders before you know the real cost.
The Declarant is import-order decision support for European importers and the procurement, finance and customs teams inside them. It tells you what an order will actually cost at the border before you approve the purchase order, and it re-reads your filed entries afterwards to find what you overpaid.
Duty, preference eligibility, trade-remedy exposure and CBAM are decided by the commercial terms you sign off: the HS code, the origin, the supplier, the Incoterm, the valuation. By the time a declaration is lodged, those decisions are already made. The Declarant moves the check to the moment it can still change the outcome — and gives you a written, auditable explanation for every finding.
“Check an import order” opens the free calculator. “Audit recent imports” opens the 24-hour demo workspace. The duty-recovery diagnostic and the ROI review go straight to the founders — no sales queue. The free declaration check runs on thedeclarant.com, the product's own site. Read the sourced EU customs duty recovery guide for the legal route, review fields and evidence limits behind a repayment check. See pricing.
What The Declarant does not do
The Declarant does not file or amend customs declarations. It does not submit entries to any customs system, it does not act as your customs broker or indirect/direct customs representative, and it never lodges anything on your behalf.
It produces the analysis and the evidence. Your declarant of record — your in-house customs team or your broker — files, amends and remains legally responsible for what is lodged.
Where The Declarant lives
Two sites, two jobs. This page is the suite view; the product has its own home.
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thedeclarant.com
The product's own site, and the shortest route in. It carries the free customs declaration check: upload a declaration and see what may be missing, inconsistent or financially exposed before it is submitted. Its EU customs duty recovery guide explains when overcharged duty may be repayable and where EU-wide recovery data remains unavailable.
Same boundary applies there as here — decision support, not a customs filing.
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trade.orcavera.com
The platform itself. The free calculator, the 24-hour demo workspace, and the signed-in product live here.
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This page
The Declarant in the context of Orca Suite: what it does and does not do, the data underneath, the methodology and its limits, and how it sits next to Flow, Orca Carbon and Orca Optimizer.
Who it is for
Importers bringing goods into the EU, where more than one function has to agree before an order is placed and each of them is answerable for a different number.
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Procurement & sourcing
You compare suppliers and origins on quoted unit price. The Declarant restates each option on a landed basis, so the cheapest quote and the cheapest order are the same thing.
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Finance & controlling
You carry the variance when duty, VAT or CBAM lands differently from the forecast. The Declarant gives you the committed cost before the PO is approved, not after the invoice arrives.
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Customs & trade compliance
You answer to the authority for classification, origin and valuation. The Declarant gives you the working, the source text and the citation behind every position — before it is filed, and again when it is reviewed.
Two moments that decide your duty bill
The Declarant works at the two points where an importer can still change the number: before the order is approved, and after the entry has been filed.
Know the committed cost while you can still act on it
- Landed-cost truth. Customs duty, import VAT, CBAM, freight, brokerage and fees resolved for the specific HS code, origin and Incoterm on the order — not a blended average.
- Preference eligibility. Whether the goods actually qualify under the applicable agreement, which rule of origin applies, and which proof (EUR.1, A.TR, REX statement, importer's knowledge) you must hold before the claim is made.
- Trade-remedy exposure. Anti-dumping and countervailing measures in force against the commodity and origin combination on the order.
- CBAM exposure. Whether the goods fall in scope, what the reporting obligation is, and what certificate cost the origin and emissions basis implies.
- Origin-by-origin comparison. The same HS code across candidate origins on one basis, so a sourcing switch is priced before it is proposed.
Re-read what was lodged and find what was overpaid
- Audit of filed entries. Your import history re-checked against the tariff measures that were in force on each entry's date.
- Duty-recovery detection. Misclassification, preference claims that were available and not made, end-use and inward-processing reliefs that were not applied, and valuation elements that were included when they need not have been.
- Quantified, not just flagged. Each candidate carries an amount and the basis for it, so you can decide whether it is worth pursuing before anyone opens a file.
- Evidence pack per finding. The measure, the legal basis, the entry reference and the calculation, assembled so your broker or customs team can act on it — or reject it — without redoing the work.
Repayment or remission claims are filed by you or your broker. The Declarant prepares the case; it does not lodge it.
What you actually get out of it
Five outcomes. Everything else in the product exists to produce one of them.
- Prevent landed-cost surprises The cost of an order is known and signed off before the PO is approved, instead of discovered on the clearance invoice.
- Validate preference eligibility and origin evidence A preference claim is made only when the rule is met and the proof is held — and you know which proof, before the goods move.
- Identify trade-remedy and CBAM exposure Anti-dumping, countervailing and CBAM obligations are surfaced against the specific commodity and origin on the order, not assumed away.
- Detect potential duty recovery Filed entries are re-examined and overpayment candidates are quantified, so recovery work is prioritised by value rather than by memory.
- Produce an auditable explanation for each finding Every number carries its measure, its legal basis, its inputs and its calculation — the working an auditor, a broker or a customs officer will ask for.
Measurable outputs you receive
| Output | When | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| Landed-cost breakdown per order line | Before PO approval | Every cost component named and valued separately — duty, import VAT, CBAM, freight, brokerage, fees — with the rate and the source used for each. |
| Preference eligibility determination | Before PO approval | Eligible / not eligible / evidence missing, the rule of origin applied, and the specific proof document required to support the claim. |
| Exposure register | Before PO approval | Trade-remedy measures and CBAM obligations in force for the commodity and origin, with the measure reference. |
| Origin comparison table | Before PO approval | Candidate origins for the same commodity, restated on a single landed basis, with the delta and what drives it. |
| Duty-recovery candidate list | After filing | Each candidate with an estimated amount, the entry reference, the reason, and the confidence basis — ranked by value. |
| Evidence pack per finding | Both | Inputs, calculation, measure and legal-source citation, exportable for your broker, your auditor or your own file. |
What a finding looks like
A single finding from the duty-recovery audit, shown in full. The figures below are demonstration values used to show the structure of the output.
Illustrative product example
Preference claim available and not made
- Finding type
- Unclaimed tariff preference
- Entry reference
- Demo data — not a real MRN
- Commodity
- Illustrative HS heading, industrial component
- Declared treatment
- Third-country duty rate applied
- Available treatment
- Preferential rate under the applicable agreement
- Condition to satisfy
- Product-specific rule of origin met and a valid proof of origin held for the consignment
- Evidence held
- Demo data — supplier declaration on file, movement certificate not on file
- Estimated recoverable duty
- Demo data — illustrative amount only
- Recommended action
- Obtain the missing proof from the supplier, then instruct your broker to assess a repayment application within the applicable time limit
- Basis shown
- Tariff measure in force on the entry date, the origin rule text, the declared and preferential rates, and the calculation used
This example exists to show the shape and completeness of a finding. Amounts, references and evidence states are demonstration values, not results from a customer account. Every real finding must be verified by your customs broker or in-house customs team before it is relied on or filed.
The data underneath
Findings are only as good as the reference data behind them. These are the sources The Declarant runs on and the cadence at which they are refreshed.
| Source | Used for | Refresh cadence |
|---|---|---|
| EU TARIC | Nomenclature, duty rates, tariff measures | Ingested nightly |
| WTO, USITC and UK HMRC tariff feeds | Non-EU tariff reference for comparison | Ingested nightly |
| EU CBAM default emission factors (Commission Implementing Reg. (EU) 2023/1782) |
CBAM exposure where verified supplier data is absent | Updated as the European Commission publishes |
| ECB reference rates | Currency conversion in landed-cost calculations | Daily |
Also used, without a published refresh cadence and therefore stated without one: ICAP emissions-trading price data, EUR-Lex for legal source text with citations, VIES for VAT number validation, and official sanctions lists for trade-lane screening. The official quarterly CBAM certificate price is applied as published — for Q1 2026 that is €75.36 per tonne CO₂. The SEFA free-allocation formula under Reg. (EU) 2023/956 is applied where relevant.
Your own inputs — freight contracts, fee schedules, supplier data and import history — are combined with these sources. They are not blended into anyone else's benchmark.
How a result gets reported back
The structure below is the reporting format. It is filled here with demonstration data because no customer result on this site has been through customer review and approval yet. When one has, it replaces this example in full — named, quantified and approved.
Illustrative product example
Reporting structure — demonstration data throughout
- Importer profile
- Demo data — EU importer, industrial goods, multiple non-EU origins
- Trigger
- Demo data — duty variance against forecast noticed at period close
- Scope of review
- Demo data — entries filed over a defined historical window
- What the audit examined
- Classification consistency, preference claims made versus available, valuation elements, and relief regimes not applied
- Findings raised
- Demo data — count and value withheld; no verified customer figure is published on this page
- Verification step
- Every finding reviewed by the importer's customs broker before any action was taken
- Outcome reported
- Demo data — awaiting a customer-approved result; this row will carry a real, approved figure or it will keep saying this
No customer is named, quoted or implied anywhere on this page. Orcavera does not publish savings figures, accuracy rates, usage statistics or logos that a customer has not reviewed and approved.
Methodology, limitations and verification
How a finding is produced. The Declarant resolves the commodity code, origin and valuation basis you provide against the tariff measures in force for the relevant date, applies the applicable duty, VAT, CBAM and fee logic, and records the inputs, the measure references and the calculation alongside the result. Legal positions are supported by source text with citations rather than by paraphrase.
What it depends on. Output quality is bounded by input quality. If the HS code, declared origin, valuation basis, Incoterm, supplier data or emissions data you supply is wrong or incomplete, the result will be wrong in the same way. The Declarant flags missing evidence; it cannot manufacture it.
Known limitations.
- Classification is a legal judgement. The Declarant supports and evidences it; it does not replace a binding tariff information decision from a customs authority.
- Preference eligibility depends on facts held by your supplier. Where the proof of origin is not on file, the outcome is reported as evidence-missing, not as eligible.
- CBAM figures computed from Commission default factors are, by construction, defaults. Verified supplier emissions data changes the number.
- Duty-recovery candidates are candidates. Whether a repayment or remission claim succeeds depends on time limits, evidence and the assessment of the customs authority.
- Reference data is refreshed at the cadence stated above. A measure published between refreshes may not yet be reflected.
Customs-broker verification disclaimer. The Declarant provides analysis and decision support. It is not customs advice, legal advice or tax advice, and it does not create a customs representation relationship. Verify every output with your customs broker, your in-house customs team or the competent customs authority before you rely on it, declare on it, or make a financial or sourcing commitment on the strength of it. Legal responsibility for what is declared remains with the declarant of record.
Security and privacy
Your trade data is business-sensitive, so the handling is stated plainly and matches what is written in the Privacy Notice.
- Where it runs. The core production stack — database, application and document store — runs on Hetzner servers in Germany. Orcavera is based in Basel, Switzerland.
- Who controls it. The trade data you enter or upload remains yours. You are the controller; Orcavera processes it on your behalf as a processor under a Data Processing Agreement.
- Who else touches it. A small, published set of sub-processors, each named with its purpose and region in the Privacy Notice. Transfers outside the EEA or Switzerland rely on EU Standard Contractual Clauses with encryption in transit and at rest.
- Retention. Account and tenant data for as long as the account is active plus 30 days; server logs and error traces 30 days. You can delete individual calculations, lanes and documents inside the product at any time.
- What is not done. No advertising trackers, no third-party retargeting pixels and no cross-site fingerprinting. No marketing cookies are set on this public site.
- Your rights. Access, rectification, deletion, restriction, objection and portability under the GDPR and the Swiss FADP, exercised by emailing [email protected].
Who builds it
Orcavera is built by operators who spent 20 years managing global sourcing, signing off on customs declarations and absorbing the cost of getting it wrong — before writing a line of code. The company is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and The Declarant is built specifically for European import workflows.
Founder and data-protection contact: Umut Bakin. Messages to [email protected] are answered by the founders directly; there is no ticket queue.
The Declarant is one surface of the Orca Suite, alongside Flow (transport and detention & demurrage), Orca Carbon (CSRD and ESRS E1 reporting) and Orca Optimizer (routing and network design).
Start with one order, or one quarter of entries
Check a live order against the free calculator, or open the 24-hour demo workspace and point it at imports you have already filed. If you would rather have a person walk it with you, the founders will.
Or email the founders directly at [email protected].