Broker notified
DHL's glossary defines this event as the shipment having "arrived at the destination country" with "a notification has been sent to custom broker to clear the shipment" — the review is queued, not yet underway.
Tracking status
What "customs clearance started" means
A customs authority in the destination country, or a broker working on its behalf, has begun reviewing the parcel's paperwork. DHL puts the whole implication in one sentence on its own customs FAQ: expect the process to continue until every check is finished and any duty owed has been paid. Nothing physical happens to the box during this stage — only the file moves.
DHL's own wording, quotedRead 2026-09-02The stage before release
A file opens, not a box
This status marks paperwork moving. The parcel itself sits still until it is settled.
The plain statement, from DHL itself
“If you see import customs clearance has started expect the process to continue until all checks are completed and duties are paid.”DHL, Customs Clearance & Customs Declaration FAQ, dhl.com, read 2026-09-02
Read plainly, that sentence sets an expectation rather than a promise: a status naming the start of clearance is not itself a countdown, and DHL does not attach a number of hours or days to it anywhere on the same page. What it does say is what has to happen before the status changes again — every check finished, and any duty settled.
What actually triggers it
DHL's own tracking-status glossary names two events that sit inside this stage, and both require the parcel to have physically arrived first.
Documents reviewed
A separate status follows once the shipment "has been checked, and all required documents have been reviewed by customs" — the review itself, actually in motion.
Arrival comes first
Both events sit after physical arrival in DHL's own sequence. A quiet tracking page before that point is a shipment still in transit, not one in clearance yet.
How long "started" usually lasts
DHL states that clearance is "completed upon arrival" in the ordinary case, and "can take several days" once a shipment is flagged for review. The same page names four factors that decide which of those two a specific parcel gets: origin, destination, type of goods, and whether the documentation on file is complete. None of the four is something the person waiting on a delivery can see from a tracking page, which is the honest reason this status is often the longest quiet stretch on an international shipment.
What follows a started clearance is a release, covered on our import clearance completed guide, or a hold, covered on our package stuck in customs guide. Both are named, separate statuses in DHL's own glossary — neither is a silent extension of "started."
Where SMKlog fits
This status belongs to the import side of a shipment, run by the destination country's own customs authority and the carrier's broker there. SMKlog's checkout does not touch it — on the four countries sold self-service, Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia, our part is the US export declaration completed before the label is bought, and any duty on the import side lands on the recipient rather than on us.
Where this comes from
- DHL, Customs Clearance & Customs Declaration FAQ — the "clearance has started" wording, the timing statement and its four factors. Read 2026-09-02.
- DHL, DHL Express Tracking Status Explained — the two named statuses inside this stage and what follows it. Read 2026-09-02.
Tracking status wording and clearance procedure are set by each carrier and revised without notice. Treat the statements above as what DHL published on the date shown.
Clearance stage questions
What does "customs clearance started" mean?
DHL's own customs FAQ puts it plainly: "If you see import customs clearance has started expect the process to continue until all checks are completed and duties are paid." The parcel has reached the destination country and a customs authority, or a broker acting for it, has begun reviewing the paperwork already on file. Nothing about the box itself is moving while this happens.
What actually triggers this status?
Arrival in the destination country. DHL's tracking glossary shows a notification firing once a shipment "has arrived at the destination country and a notification has been sent to custom broker to clear the shipment," followed by a status once "all required documents have been reviewed by customs." Both describe work that only starts after the parcel has physically landed.
How long does the "started" stage usually last?
DHL does not commit to a fixed window. Its customs FAQ says clearance is typically "completed upon arrival" but "can take several days" once a shipment is flagged for review, and names origin, destination, type of goods, and documentation completeness as the factors that decide which one a given parcel gets.
What comes after "started"?
A release decision, one way or another. Our guide to what "import customs clearance completed" means covers the next status in the same sequence and what fires once it posts.
Can a shipment stay in "started" indefinitely?
No. DHL's glossary carries dedicated statuses for the ways a started clearance stalls rather than finishing silently, including a hold specifically for unpaid duty and a return-to-shipper status for a shipment that fails clearance outright. A parcel that has actually stopped, rather than one still working through this stage, is covered on our package stuck in customs guide.