Through the services of the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of State, Fermilab will arrange for a U.S. Customs waiver, post a Temporary Importation Bond (T.I.B.), or pay import duties on materials shipped to the laboratory from foreign countries. Getting a waiver takes a minimum of three weeks.

Besides following the general instructions, users shipping materials from foreign countries need to provide additional information, in advance, to the Traffic Department (ext. 3470), either by telephone or letter: foreign consignor; foreign freight forwarder; waybill/airbill number and package identification number; date of shipment, port of entry, vessel name or aircraft flight number; arrival date; value of shipment for customs purposes; a brief description of the equipment; and the experiment number. Receipt of this information will enable the laboratory to effect delivery of the equipment with least delay. The experimental group must pay any storage charges incurred while the shipment is being cleared through Customs. In order to avoid laboratory overhead costs, route inbound shipments on a ìfreight prepaidî basis and outbound shipments on a ìfreight collectî basis.