Neutral Delivery Service (NDS)

What is Neutral Delivery Service?

Neutral Delivery Service (NDS) is a service DHL offers that keeps the declared value of the shipment hidden from the receiver. This service may also be called a blind shipment. DHL charges a fee for this service. This service is only possible to countries approved to provide this service, so it will be necessary to check with Preferred Shipping (provided you are a customer) to ensure the countries involved in the shipment offer this service.

Process Flow

Which party pays the taxes?

In the past, someone in the receiving country had to be listed as the Importer of Record (IOR). Any duties and taxes would be billed to the IOR, so they had to have a DHL import account number for this to work.

DHL has made some process changes that now allow you to select DTP and ask that the duties and taxes be billed to the sender.

So now you have options when it comes to who will pay any duties and taxes so the receiver doesn’t have to and to hide the paperwork from them.

How to prepare a NDS shipment

The DHL Express AWB must be processed using MyDHL+. This is the only system currently set up to allow you to select NDS as an option as well as to provide information for an Importer of Record if that’s how you want the duties and taxes handled.

Log in to MyDHL+ and make the shipment as you normally would with the receiver’s information and address. You will get to a section that asks if other parties are involved in the shipment. This is where you can put in the IOR information and specify that they are the Importer of Record. When you select the Neutral Delivery option (if available for the countries involved in that shipment), this will tell DHL how to handle customs clearance and who to bill for the duties and taxes. You can also mark for duties and taxes to Bill Third Party and put the IOR’s DHL import account number for further clarity.

If you want to pay any duties and taxes as the sender, you will select DTP as the Incoterm. You will still need to check the box for Neutral Delivery.

If the shipment doesn’t qualify for Neutral Delivery (the receiving country doesn’t offer it, for example), then you won’t be offered that option. Know that if you haven’t checked a box selecting Neutral Delivery, then that service wasn’t selected.

Neutral Delivery is offered to and from 62 countries