Shipping Solutions Export Form Descriptions

Shipping Solutions
Export Form Descriptions

Air Waybill
A non-negotiable bill of lading, produced in conformance with the International Air Transport Association’s specifications, the International House Air Waybill serves as a contract between the exporter and the air carrier or his agent.

Shipping Solutions Professional allows you to print a complete Air Waybill on plain paper or print data only on a multipart, pre-printed air waybill form supplied by your carrier. Both choices are available from the Print Forms Menu on the EZ Start Screen.

Bank Draft/Transmittal Letter

Drafts are examples of the most seasoned instruments in international trade. The draft, a negotiable instrument, must contain all the following elements:

It must be signed by the drawer.
It must be payable on demand (Sight) or at a specific time (Time).
It must contain an unconditional order to pay a certain sum of money.
It must be properly endorsed either to the drawer or to the drawer’s bank.

The transmittal/remittance letter contains the shipper’s complete and precise instructions on how the documents are to be handled and how payment is to be made.

Canada Customs Invoice
Commercial shipments to Canada, regardless of mode of transport, which are valued at over $1,200 (Canadian funds), are not classified under HTUSA Chapter 9810, and are subject to duties and sales taxes, must be accompanied by a Canada Customs Invoice. The invoice must contain all the information currently required by Canada Customs Regulations, and can be prepared either by the exporter/importer or their agents.

The Canada Customs Invoice must be completed to show (a) the transferor as the exporter; (b) the transferee as the purchaser; and (c) the original vendor as the vendor. The exporter must specify, in addition to providing the general data regarding the transacting parties, the conditions of the sale, the terms of payment and complete details relative to packing, description of goods, unit price and total prices.

The Canada Customs Invoice must also document whether or not transportation and insurance charges, export packing and charges for construction or assembly in Canada are included in the selling price. Canada Customs is also very interested in whether or not commission or royalty payments are involved.

CARICOM Invoice
In the Caribbean region, a free trade zone called the Caribbean Common Market exists. This free trade zone essentially creates one common market for the 13 member states. Theoretically, all goods produced within the common market can move freely throughout the common market, and should not be subject to any import duties, license restrictions, quotas or other barriers to entry. With some exceptions, goods imported into the member countries from non-member countries are subject to import duties and other import restrictions. All exports to member countries from non-member countries must be accompanied by five copies of a properly completed CARICOM Invoice or the shipment may be delayed at customs.

Central American-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement Certificate (CAFTA-DR)

The Central America and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) designates the importer with the responsibility of claiming preferential tariff treatment under the Agreement. The importer should work with the U.S. exporter to ensure that a U.S. good meets the relevant rule of origin under the CAFTA-DR prior to making a claim.

In general, a product's eligibility for preferential tariff treatment may be demonstrated in a variety of ways provided it is in written or electronic form, for instance: a statement on company letterhead, a statement on a commercial invoice, or a certification. While no official form is required in order to demonstrate eligibility for preferential tariff treatment under the CAFTA-DR, there is a required list of elements that need to be included.
Shipping Solutions includes a CAFTA-DR Certificate based on the sample form provided at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s website, www.export.gov, which includes all the required data elements for claiming preferential tariff treatment.

Certificate of Origin
A Certificate of Origin is a document attesting that goods in a particular shipment are of a certain origin.

Virtually every country in the world considers the origin of imported goods when determining what duty will be assessed on the goods or, in some cases, whether the goods may be legally imported at all.

Commercial Invoice
The Commercial Invoice is the one single document which describes the entire transaction from start to finish. The basis for all other export documents, the Commercial Invoice is, in reality, a bill for the goods from the seller to the buyer. It is also the primary shipping document used by customs worldwide for commodity control and valuation.

Dock Receipt
The dock receipt is designed to provide the shipper/exporter with proof of delivery of the cargo to the carrier in good condition. The inland carrier may deliver the goods to a warehouse company or to a warehouse operated by the carrier as arranged by the freight forwarder. The dock receipt is usually prepared by the freight forwarder and is signed by the warehouseman or agent for the carrier upon receipt of the goods. Descriptive information helps the steamship company keep track of the shipment on the pier. The inland carrier provides the dock receipt to the freight forwarder as evidence that satisfactory delivery has been completed.

FAA Security Endorsement
The Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) require freight forwarders and air carriers to enforce a cargo security program that protects passenger aircraft. As part of this program, all air shippers must complete an FAA Security Endorsement as proof that they are who they say they are.

IATA Dangerous Goods Declaration
The International Air Transport Association requires that a Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods be completed for each consignment of dangerous goods. The shipper is responsible for the completion of the form. For each shipment containing dangerous goods the shipper must:

use only the correct form in the correct manner,
complete the form accurately and legibly,
ensure that the form is properly signed when the shipment is presented to the operator for shipment, and
ensure that the shipment has been prepared in accordance with the IATA Regulations.

Because the IATA Dangerous Goods Declaration includes a red border, Shipping Solutions Professional allows you to print a complete Declaration on plain paper only if you have a color laser or inkjet printer. If you do not, or if you prefer to print this document on a pre-printed form, you can choose to print data or print the IATA form with everything but the red border. Both these options are available from the Print Forms Menu and the Preview Form button.

IMO Dangerous Goods Declaration
Because the IMO Dangerous Goods Declaration includes a blue border, Shipping Solutions Professional allows you to print a complete Declaration on plain paper only if you have a color laser or inkjet printer. If you do not, or if you prefer to print this document on a pre-printed form, you can choose to print data only from the Print Forms Menu on the EZ Start Screen.

Inland Bill of Lading
The inland bill of lading provides the required information for the inland movement of goods by motor carrier (over the highway truck), by rail (on railroad), by rail/water, or by other combinations of these modes of transportation. The form itself is a contract of carriage between the shipper and the carrier.

The three purposes of the bill of lading used for the inland transportation of goods are:

A receipt for the goods received in apparent good condition except as may be specifically noted on the B/L.
A contract of carriage to move the goods, which have been duly marked, to the consignee and destination as indicated on the bill of lading.
A title document for the goods. A bill of lading my be negotiable or non-negotiable, depending on the terms of sale.

Master Waybill of Lading
Some shippers and freight forwarders wish to produce a Master Waybill for their shipment. This waybill includes that same information as the Ocean Bill of Lading. Since most users want to produce this document on their own pre-printed form, Shipping Solutions Professional prints only data on this document.

NAFTA Certificate of Origin
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) allows substantial benefits for importers and exporters in Mexico, Canada, and the United States for goods originating in the three nations. These benefits of Customs duty reduction and elimination depend upon an exporter’s declaration of the origin of the goods, called the NAFTA Certificate of Origin.
This certificate must be completed by the U.S. exporter, and must be in the possession of the Canadian or Mexican importer at the time the declaration is made to either Canadian Customs or Mexican Customs.

The U.S. exporter is responsible for determining the eligibility of the goods for NAFTA treatment and for providing the importer with the certificate. A NAFTA Certificate of Origin may be prepared for a single product of a one-time shipment, or for multiple shipments of identical items for a period of up to one year (Blanket Certificate).

The exporter must determine the appropriate Rule of Origin for the merchandise. These eight rules are detailed in Chapter 4 of Annex 401 of the Free Trade Agreement, and cover items wholly obtained or produced in North America, having contents or components which have been sufficiently changed through production in North America, have sufficient Regional Value Content, or are listed in Annex 300 under certain Tariff Preference Levels (TPL).

Ocean Bill of Lading
An Ocean Bill of Lading is a “contract of carriage” between an exporter (principal or seller of the goods) and an ocean carrier to transport merchandise as specified by the shipper. This form serves as a receipt for the cargo and a service contract stating (among other things) where to deliver the goods, freight charges to be paid, and to whom the goods are consigned.

There are two types of consignments permitted on ocean bills of lading. First, there is a “straight” or Non-Negotiable which allows the consignee to claim the goods at the destination by presenting an original bill of lading. This consignment is used when the exporter/seller is not intending to use the bill of lading to secure payment. The terms of payment are often cash or open account. Second, there is a negotiable or “Shipper’s Order” consignment which allows the shipper to direct delivery based on his endorsement of the original bill(s) of lading. This consignment is used to secure payment by means of a Letter of Credit or Documentary Collection.

Packing List
Even though a packing list is not required by the Customs laws of every country, its use can be crucial to the successful completion of your exporting process. Packing lists come in various formats, all with the same basic functions:

To confirm the contents of a shipment as it left the exporter’s premises.
To indicate weights, measures and the piece count (i.e. the number of cartons or cases) in that shipment.

Proforma Invoice
Proforma invoices are nothing more than quotations prepared to resemble commercial invoices. In fact, if the proforma invoice is correct, and if an order results, the final commercial invoice will closely resemble the proforma. Proforma invoice quotations are extremely handy when quoting Letter of Credit payment terms. The buyer can take the proforma invoice to his or her bank, which can then open a Letter of Credit which conforms to those terms. By making sure that details like sales terms, product descriptions and pricing are clear, costly changes can be avoided.

All proforma invoices should be valid for a specific period. Keep in mind that you are often quoting not only the cost of your product, but the transportation cost as well. A reasonable time should be allowed for the buyer to respond, after which the proforma invoice is no longer valid.

Shipment Log Report
The various U.S. government agencies responsible for export compliance are implementing new export regulations, increasing the number of export compliance officers, and dramatically increasing penalties of violations. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), for example, has increased its maximum penalties for certain export violations from $10,000 per incident to $50,000 per incident.
In order to ensure compliance with export regulations, BIS strongly recommends that companies create a written Export Management System (EMS) that clearly outlines what steps your company needs to follow prior to every export shipment to ensure that you haven’t violated current export regulations. While an EMS isn’t mandatory, BIS officials say that creating and following such a plan can be an important mitigating factor that could reduce or eliminate penalties if BIS finds that your company accidentally violated export rules and laws.
The Shipment Log screen (which is available only in Shipping Solutions Professional) allows you to document that each step of your EMS plan is being followed. The information entered into this screen does not appear on any of the export forms, but it will automatically be saved in the software and you can print out a Shipment Log Report for each shipment from the Print Menu on the toolbar.

Shipper’s Declaration of Articles Not Restricted (Non-Dangerous Goods)
If a company is shipping non-restricted goods by air that could be mistaken as hazardous, the exporter may voluntarily provide the Non-Dangerous Goods form to prevent any delays in shipping.

Shipper’s Export Declaration
The Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) is used for compiling U.S. export trade statistics as well as for export control and is currently required by the Department of Commerce for all shipments with individual items valued at $2,500. This form is also required if an Export License is needed or if the shipment has been consigned to a controlled destination. This form should be printed on buff colored paper.

The U.S. Census Bureau now encourages exporters to file the SED electronically through its Automated Export System (AES). The Census Bureau has certified Shipping Solutions for its AESDirect program, which means you can now submit the SED electronically directly from the software.

Shipper’s Letter of Instruction
The Shipper’s Letter of Instruction (SLI), while not required by any regulatory agency, serves a very important function. Its purpose is to convey specific instructions from the exporter to his agent, usually an international freight forwarder.

Shipping Labels
These are standard shipping labels that you can print out on Avery 5164 labels and place on your shipment packages. Shipping Solutions will print a set of six labels with the Shipper’s and Consignee’s name and address whenever you print this form.

U.S. - Chile Free Trade Agreement Certificate of Origin
The U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA) provides lower duties on certain goods originating in and traded between the United States and Chile. The Chilean importer is responsible for claiming preferential treatment for a given shipment at the time the goods are cleared through Customs. (Under the U.S.-Chile FTA, the ultimate responsibility for the validity of the claim lies with the importer, not the exporter, as it is under NAFTA.) In order to claim the preferential duty rate, the importer must provide to Chilean Customs a written declaration, which may or may not be in the form of a certificate of origin.

Despite the fact that the ultimate responsibility for making the declaration lies with the importer, the information needed to support the declaration will have to be provided by the producer. The written declaration that the goods are originating may be produced by the exporter, importer or producer of the goods.
If someone other than the producer (i.e., the exporter or importer) issues the declaration, it must be based upon either:

A written declaration of origin issued by the producer, or
The issuer's intimate knowledge of the product, its manufacture, and its components.

The importer is heavily dependent upon the assistance and cooperation of its U.S. suppliers in producing accurate and well-documented declarations of origin.

U.S. - Israel Certificate of Origin
In order for U.S. exporters to qualify for preferential access to the Israeli market, a special certificate of origin must accompany all shipments from the United States to Israel.

To prevent possible customs delays for goods arriving in Israel, American exporters are advised to ensure that they are using the correct certificate of origin (CO) form and that it is completed and attached to the other shipping documents before any shipment leaves the U.S. port. The correct CO for Israel, the “U.S. Certificate of Origin for Exports to Israel,” is green in color and has “for exports to Israel” printed at the top of the form. Shipping Solutions Professional was designed to print data for the CO on a preprinted form available at various American-Israel Chambers of Commerce located throughout the U.S.

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