The legal entity registered with the destination country's customs authority is accountable for the imported shipment. For industrial automation and robotics equipment specifically, the IOR:
The legal entity registered with the origin country's export authority is accountable for the outbound shipment. For industrial automation and robotics equipment specifically, the EOR:
As your registered Importer of Record (IOR), IOR Service assumes legal responsibility for industrial automation and robotics shipments entering the destination country — managing customs compliance and machinery safety verification as parallel workstreams.
We classify machinery and robotics under appropriate HS codes — 8479.50 for industrial robots, 8537 for PLCs and control panels, 8473 for HMIs as data processing equipment, 9031 for measuring and inspection instruments. Misclassification carries fines, delays, and post-clearance audit exposure.
We confirm the manufacturer's CE marking is correctly applied and the Declaration of Conformity is valid for the destination market. We review technical file completeness against Machinery Directive Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSR) — and against the incoming Machinery Regulation 2023/1230, effective January 2027.
We verify applicable safety standard compliance: ISO 10218-1 and ISO 10218-2 for industrial robots, ISO/TS 15066 for collaborative robots, ISO 13849 for safety-related control systems with appropriate Performance Level (PL a–e), IEC 62061 with appropriate Safety Integrity Level (SIL 1–3) for machinery functional safety.
Beyond EU CE marking — UK UKCA marking (post-Brexit), Switzerland MachSV, US UL/CSA where required, Japan PSE marking, China CCC, South Korea KCs, Saudi SASO. Coordinated per destination, applied per shipment.
For connected machinery and Industry 4.0 systems, we verify IEC 62443 compliance documentation. Industrial cybersecurity is increasingly required for AGVs, AMRs, and connected automation systems — and becoming mandatory under the Machinery Regulation 2023/1230. This is part of a broader shift in digital transformation in industrial IOR practice, where connectivity and cybersecurity documentation become inseparable from customs compliance.
We file import declarations with the destination customs authority. We pay import duties, VAT, and customs fees as the registered importer. Costs are billed transparently to the client as part of the engagement.
We screen every transaction party against the BIS Entity List, OFAC SDN List, EU Consolidated List, and equivalent restricted-party schedules. Industrial automation with embedded AI or vision systems may face additional dual-use review under EAR — handled within the engagement.
We maintain technical files, Declarations of Conformity, CE certificates, customs documentation, and shipment-level records. Industrial equipment audit windows are typically long; documentation is organised by jurisdiction and indexed for multi-year retrievability.
Industrial automation and robotics imports span the full equipment landscape — from articulated robots to PLCs to vision systems. Each category triggers different HS classifications and country-specific certification requirements.
Articulated robots from ABB (IRB series), KUKA (KR series), FANUC (R-2000/R-30), Yaskawa Motoman, Stäubli (RX/TX), Kawasaki (R-series). SCARA, delta, and palletising configurations. HS 8479.50. Subject to Machinery Directive CE marking and ISO 10218 functional safety.
Universal Robots UR3e, UR5e, UR10e, UR16e, UR20; FANUC CRX series; ABB GoFa CRB; Techman Robot; Doosan H-series. Lower force and speed than industrial robots but still require ISO 10218-2 and ISO/TS 15066 (collaborative operations) compliance.
Programmable Logic Controllers — Siemens SIMATIC S7-1200 and S7-1500, Rockwell Automation ControlLogix and CompactLogix, Mitsubishi MELSEC iQ-R and Q-series, Schneider Modicon M580 and M340, Omron Sysmac NX and NJ. Subject to IEC 61131 programming standards and IEC 62443 industrial cybersecurity.
Human-Machine Interfaces from Siemens SIMATIC HMI Comfort and Unified, Rockwell PanelView Plus, Mitsubishi GOT, Pro-face. SCADA from Siemens WinCC, AVEVA (formerly Wonderware), Rockwell FactoryTalk View. Distributed Control Systems for process industries.
Machine vision from Cognex (In-Sight, DataMan), Keyence (CV/IV/LR series), Basler ace cameras, Omron FH-series. Sensors from SICK (proximity and safety), Pepperl+Fuchs, IFM Electronic, Banner Engineering. Position, force, torque, temperature, and vision sensing.
Autonomous Guided Vehicles from Daifuku, Dematic, JBT. Autonomous Mobile Robots from MiR (Mobile Industrial Robots), Locus Robotics, Fetch Robotics, OTTO Motors. Servo drives and motion controllers from Siemens SINAMICS, Rockwell Kinetix, Yaskawa Sigma-7, Beckhoff.
IOR Service pricing for industrial automation and robotics imports is structured around four variables:
Destination country regulatory burden — EU/UK Machinery Directive markets carry different operational costs from non-CE markets
Classification and certification complexity — connected automation (AGVs, AMRs, AI-enabled machinery) requires more verification than standard PLCs
Functional safety standard scope — high-SIL safety systems and PL d/e safety functions require more verification than low-SIL applications
Shipment volume and program continuity — production line rollouts are priced differently from one-off equipment imports, and multi-country deployments benefit from consolidated customs management for multinationals rather than fragmented per-country handling.
GPUs, AI accelerators, servers, storage, networking. ECCN classification, BIS Entity List, and AI Diffusion Rule compliance
55G base stations, routers, switches, fiber-optic systems. Type approval and spectrum licensing across regulators
Hyperscale deployments, edge data center hardware. Multi-jurisdictional shipments synchronized across destination markets.
Connected medical devices, diagnostic equipment. FDA, CE, and SFDA registration management.
Solar panels, inverters, battery systems. Project-scale imports and country-specific energy certifications
Avionics, dual-use electronics. ITAR, USML, EAR dual-use compliance.
ADAS, EV drivetrains, connected vehicle components. Country-specific homologation and type approval.
Available on request
Shared after initial assessment.25+ Years of International Trade & Compliance Leadership
Backed by decades of experience in global trade, IOR Service delivers the compliance frameworks, regulatory oversight, and market-entry expertise required for successful international operations. From highly regulated industries to complex cross-border projects, we help organizations move forward with certainty.