4 Days to Nov 15: Your 'Exempt' LC Still Gets the 50% Surcharge If It Ships Late

Everyone's focused on the Dec 31 surcharge expiry, but there's a quieter deadline biting right now. If your Letter of Credit was opened on or before May 15, 2026, you were told you'd dodge the 50% customs surcharge. The fine print says otherwise: if the bill of lading shows your car was shipped on board after November 15, 2026, the exemption is gone and you pay the 50% anyway — even with a valid old LC. Importers say this is a trap: shipping schedules, dock space and auction timing in Japan aren't fully in their control, so a genuine early buyer can get hit by a rule meant to stop people gaming the system. Others argue it closes a real loophole — without a shipping cutoff, everyone would just backdate paperwork and keep importing at the old rate indefinitely. If you've got a car on the water or sitting at a Japanese port right now, what shipped-on-board date is on your documents, and is your agent confident it clears Nov 15? Have you seen anyone actually get caught out by this one? මැයි 15ට කලින් LC ගත්තත්, නොවැම්බර් 15න් පස්සේ නැව් ගත කළොත් 50% සර්චාජ් එක ගෙවන්න වෙනවා කියලා දන්නවද?