Collection! Foreign trade documents the whole process and risk warning! Shipping Logistics | International Logistics | International Freight Forwarders | Guangzhou Freight Forwarders | Panyu Freight Forwarders | Hongde International

Foreign trade documents are an indispensable and important link in foreign trade transactions. Only by mastering the process of foreign trade documents can we ensure the safety and smooth progress of foreign trade transactions. This article will introduceThe complete process of foreign trade documentsand5 Risk Prevention RecommendationsI hope it can be helpful to friends who are doing foreign trade.

Foreign trade documents process

1. Customer Inquiry:Generally, before the customer Purchase Order (generally referred to as PO), there will be relevant Order Inquiry to the business department to make some detailed understanding.

2. Quotation:The business department responds to the guest's inquiry in a timely manner, determines the name of the goods, model, manufacturer, quantity, delivery time, payment method, packaging specifications and cabinet type, etc., and makes a formal quotation to be Quotation to the customer. Quotations need to use your company's head-up and indicate customer information, and don't forget to indicate the validity of the quotation. Due to the fluctuation of exchange rate and raw material price, the quotation may be adjusted according to the situation, so it is indicated that the validity period of the quotation will pave the way for future price adjustment.

3. Receive orders:After negotiation, the customer will send the order Purchase Order to the salesman after confirming the quotation, and ask the salesman to make a pro forma invoice Proforma Invoice (generally referred to as PI). The salesman completes the PI and sends it to the customer for confirmation.

4. Prepare production orders:After receiving the confirmation of the customer's order, we began to prepare to place an order for the factory.

5. Business approval:According to the general company process, after receiving the order, the business department will make the order details, together with the copy of the customer's order, submit them to the management personnel for approval and then submit them to the department merchandiser for follow-up. For companies without merchandisers, the salesman will follow up on his own.

6. Release production notice

After determining the delivery date, the business department may issue a production notice to notify the factory to produce on time if the following conditions are met:

6.1: If it is a customer who pays L/C, it is usually confirmed that L/C has been received one month before the delivery date, and then the salesman and the document clerk review the letter of credit separately to check whether there are errors, whether the delivery date can be guaranteed and other possible problems. If there are any problems, please ask the guest to change the certificate immediately.

6.2: If it is a T/T payment customer, confirm that the deposit has been paid.

6.3: If it is a lending customer, or through the bank D/A and other ways to collect foreign exchange, etc., need to be confirmed by the manager.

7. Inspection

7.1: One week before the delivery date, notify the inspector to inspect the goods.

7.2: If the guest wants to inspect the goods by himself or by the designated inspector, he should ask the customer to check the goods one week before the delivery date and inform the planning department of the date of checking the goods.

7.3: If the guest specifies a third-party inspection company or a fair line to inspect the goods, contact the inspection company two weeks before the delivery date to make an appointment for the inspection time and ensure that the time is arranged before the delivery date. After confirmation, the factory will be notified of the inspection time.

8. Preparation of basic documents.According to the packing materials provided by the factory, the export contract, export commercial invoice, packing list and other documents (generally made by the business merchandiser, to the voucher officer).

9. Commodity Inspection:If it is a national legal commodity inspection product, when placing an order to the factory, it is necessary to explain the commodity inspection requirements and provide export contracts, invoices and other information required for commodity inspection. Moreover, the factory should be told about the export port of the products in the future so as to facilitate the factory to handle the commodity inspection. The inspection replacement voucher/slip should be obtained one week before shipment.

10. Chartering a ship and booking a warehouse

10.1. If the offer to the customer is based on FOB terms, the customer will usually appoint a freight forwarder. Contact the freight forwarder as soon as possible to understand the export port to be arranged, the shipping date, etc., to confirm whether the factory delivery can be earlier than the opening date at least one week ago, and whether the shipping date can meet the customer's required delivery date. A written order (SHIPPING ORDER, SO) should be sent to the shipping company two weeks before the delivery date, and the order paper is usually available one week before the ship.

10.2. If the freight is paid by the seller, the shipping company or shipping company should be consulted as soon as possible about the date of shipment, freight rate, port of shipment, etc. After comparison, select the shipping company with favorable price and good reputation, and notify the guests. If the guest does not agree to choose another shipping company approved by the guest. Two weeks before the ship is set in writing, the procedure is the same as above.

10.3. If the goods are not enough for a small cabinet to take bulk cargo, place a bulk cargo position with the freight forwarding company. When you get the incoming paper, you should also know the closing time, customs declaration requirements, etc.

11. Arrange the towing cabinet

11.1. After the goods are ready and inspected, entrust the trailer company to lift the cabinet and load the cabinet. Trailer companies should choose safe and reliable, reasonably priced companies to sign long-term cooperation agreements to ensure safety and punctuality. The following information shall be provided to the trailer company: warehouse confirmation/container paper, shipping company, warehouse number, power of attorney for container towing, indicating the time of container loading, container type and quantity, container loading address, customs declaration office, and shipping port, etc. If an inspection company looks at the container, it must specifically declare that it cannot arrive late. He also requested to return a copy of the information on the counter, listing the counter number, license plate number, driver and contact number, etc. Trailer companies that do not have long-term cooperation can also allow freight forwarders to arrange freight matters and pay the relevant costs of picking up the goods when paying local fees to freight forwarders.

11.2. Send a loading document to the factory, listing the loading time, cabinet type, warehouse number, order number, license plate number and driver's contact number.

11.3. The factory is required to provide a loading notice to the business department as soon as possible after the container leaves the factory, setting out the time when the container leaves the factory, the actual quantity loaded, etc., and recording the packing number and seal number as the information of the bill of lading. The factory is required to remember the seal after loading the cabinet.

12. Commissioned customs declaration

At the same time, the information required for customs declaration shall be handed over to the cooperative customs declaration bank, and the export customs declaration shall be entrusted and the customs clearance for commodity inspection shall be exchanged. It is usually necessary to allow two days for customs declaration (before the ship is closed). When entrusting customs declaration, a container loading information shall be provided, including the goods and quantity, port, shipping company, warehouse number, container number, ship opening and closing time, trailer company, container type and quantity, contact person and telephone number of the company, etc.

13. Obtaining Shipping Documents

13.1. The contents of the bill of lading supplement shall be sent to the shipping company or freight forwarder no later than two days after the sailing. Replenishment shall be done according to the requirements of L/C or guests, and the correct quantity of goods shall be given, as well as some special requirements, including the ship certificate required by the shipping company to accompany the bill of lading.

13.2. Urge the shipping company to produce the bill of lading model and local expense bill as soon as possible. After carefully checking the sample of the bill of lading, confirm the contents of the bill of lading in writing to the shipping company. If the bill of lading needs to be confirmed by the guest, the bill of lading sample should be faxed to the guest first, and then the shipping company should be asked to produce the original after confirmation.

13.3. Timely payment of local charges such as freight and miscellaneous charges, and timely notification of the shipping company to obtain the original bill of lading and other transport documents after payment.

14. Prepare other documents

14.1. Commercial invoices: Among the documents required by L/C, commercial invoices are the most stringent. The date of the invoice should be determined after the issuing date and before the delivery date. The description of the goods in the invoice should be exactly the same as that on the L/C, and the amount in both lowercase and uppercase must be correct. The terms of the invoice on the L/C should be shown, and the shipping mark should be shown. If the invoice needs to be certified by the other embassy, it should be processed 20 days in advance.

14.2.FORM A Certificate of Origin: FORM A Certificate of Origin shall be applied to the Inspection and Quarantine Bureau before shipment. It should be noted that the shipping date should be before the delivery date and sailing date of L/C and after the invoice date. Failure to handle before shipment, to handle the post-certificate, need to provide customs declaration, bill of lading and other documents. For goods transshipped through Hong Kong, the FORM A certificate is usually signed by the China Commodity Inspection Company in Hong Kong to prove that the goods have not been reprocessed in Hong Kong. At present, there are many FORM A card agency services on the market, which can be found as needed.

Note: FORM A is the GSP certificate of origin, which is the official certificate with legal effect for China's export products to enjoy further reduction and exemption of import tariffs on the basis of the most-favored-nation tax rate. At present, a total of 38 countries have granted GSP treatment to China.

14.3. General Certificate of Origin (CO, that is, certificate of origin): General Certificate of Origin can be handled at the China Council for the Promotion of Trade, with lower requirements. It can be reissued not too long after delivery. If the certificate of origin is to be signed by the embassy, it must be processed 20 days in advance, just like the invoice. At present, there are many services for handling certificates of origin on the market, and the cost is generally between 100-200 yuan. You can find someone to handle it as needed.

14.4. Shipment Notice: It is generally required to notify the guest of the details of the shipment within a few days after the departure of the ship, including the name of the ship, the number of flights, the date of departure, the expected arrival date, the goods and quantity, the amount, the number of packages, the hoe, the agent of the port of destination, etc. Sometimes L/C requires to provide proof of delivery, such as report, letter, etc., pay attention to the time required by the guest.

14.5. Packing list: The packing list should clearly indicate the packing of the goods. To display the quantity of each box, the gross weight of each box, the net weight, and the size of the outer box. The total volume calculated according to the size of the outer box shall be consistent with the total volume indicated. The shipping mark and box number should be displayed so that guests can find them easily. The weight and volume of the packing list should match the bill of lading.

15. Delivery

15.1. Where L/C is used to collect foreign exchange, all documents shall be prepared within the prescribed time for delivery and the documents shall be strictly examined to ensure that there are no errors before they are submitted to the bank for negotiation.

15.2. If T/T is used to collect foreign exchange, a copy of the bill of lading shall be mailed to the guest immediately after obtaining the bill of lading, and the original bill of lading and other documents (PI,PL,FORMA or CO) shall be sent to the guest after confirming receipt of the balance. Do not send the original to the customer without receiving the final payment, once the customer gets the original bill of lading, the customer can pick up the goods from the port of destination, increasing the risk of the supplier's collection. Customers with payment terms of 100%T/T in advance can communicate with the freight forwarder before shipment to choose the bill of lading service.

16. Business Registration:Each single export business should be registered in time after completion, so as to facilitate future inquiry and statistics.

17. File Archiving:All documents, L/C and negotiation documents must be kept in a complete set for future reference.