• Foreign trade documents operating procedure
  • 1. Customer inquiry: Generally, before customer places Purchase Order, there is relevant order inquiry for the sales department to get better understanding of the details.
    2. Quotation: Sales department will respond to the customers’ inquiry, confirm description of cargo, type, producer, quantity, date of delivery, payment term, packing specifications and container type and etc. Later they will offer Performa Invoice to the customers as a formal quotation.
    3. Receive an order: Receive formal Purchase Order from customers after negotiation.
    4. Place production order: After receiving confirmation of customers’ Purchase Order, place production order to the factory and arrange the production plan.
    5. Business examining and approving: After sales department receive purchase order, they will make business verification sheet. Fill in “Export Contract Business Form For Examination and Approval” truthfully and try to list every estimated cost. Customers’ order fax and purchase contract are needed to be attached in the Examination and approval of contract. Form of Examination and Approval needs to be signed by salesperson, examined by department manager, come into force after final approval. If the amounts of money is large, or have advance payment, commission and other terms, the general manager needs to examine and approve it. After approval, they will make sales order and then forward to operator for the follow-up.
    6. Production Announcement: After sales department confirms time of delivery, they will announce the production on schedule only when meeting these following conditions:
    6.1：If the customer pays by letter of credit, normally it will be confirmed to receive the L/C one month before the delivery time. After receiving L/C, salesperson and documentary operator needs to examine whether there is any mistake, whether the date of delivery is guaranteed, and any other possible problems. If there is any problem, it is necessary to inform the customer for the modification immediately.
    6.2：If the customer pays by T/T, it is necessary to check whether receive the earnest money or not.
    6.3：If it is paid by open account or through bank D/A or other ways of collecting the payment or etc, manager needs to confirm it.
    7. Cargo examination
    7.1：One week before delivery, it is necessary to inform cargo inspector to examine the cargo.
    7.2：If customer himself or appointed cargo inspector is for the inspection, it is required to arrange customer to examine the cargo one week in advance and inform the examination date to the Plan Department.
    7.3：If customer appoints Cargo Inspection Company or Notarization Office to examine the cargo, it is required to contact with Cargo Inspection Company two weeks in advance before delivery, reserve date of cargo examination and make sure the date is before delivery. Then after confirmation, announce factory the date of examination.
    8．Preparation of basic documents. Packing information offered by factory, making export contract, export commercial invoice, packing list and etc. (which are supposed to made by order coordinator and send to document operator).
    9．Commodity inspection: If it is national legal commodity inspection products, announcement of commodity inspection is required to be stated in placing the order to the factory and provide export contract, invoice and other relevant information required. Also, it is necessary to inform the factory of future products ‘export port to make the process of commodity inspection more convenient. Then get PAPER/NOTE OF COMMODITY INSPECTION CERTIFICATE one week before shipment.
    10． Ship-booking：
    10.1．If the contract is signed under FOB China terms, normally customer will appoint Transport Agent Company or Shipping Company. Contact with Freight Forwarder Company as early as possible to inform intention of shipment, understand the upcoming arranged export port, shipping schedule and other information. Confirm whether factory’s delivery is able to be at least one week earlier than time of departure and whether total time is able to accord with the date of delivery. Send written ING ORDER to Freight Transport Company two weeks earlier before date of delivery. Normally, it will be able to receive Booking Space Paper one week before shipping day.
    10.2．If the freight is paid by seller, he should inquire Freight Transport Company or Shipping Company about shipping schedule, freight rate, port of departure and etc. Choose a shipping company with favorable price, good reputation and appropriate shipping schedule after comparison and inform salesperson to tell customer. If customer does not agree, chose the shipping company which customer approves. Book space in written two weeks before date of departure in the same procedure.
    10.3．If cargo is not enough to be stuffed in the small container, that is to say cargo in bulk is in need. In this case, book cargo in bulk space to Freight forwarding company is required. When receiving paper from warehouse, understand closing date, requirements of warehouse customs declaration and etc.
    10.4．When booking space from the Transportation Company, it is required to fax note of booking in written form, stating decided shipping date, container type, quantity, port of destination and etc in case of any mistake.
    11． Arrangement of Container Trailer
    11.1．After cargo is ready and finish examination, appoint Trailer Car Company to pick up and load the container. Trailer Car Company should choose reliable company who has reasonable price to sign a long-term cooperation contract with to make sure safety on time. Fax these following information to Trailer Car Company: The Confirmation Paper of Space Booking/Shipping Order, Shipping Company, Space Booking Number, Entrustment Paper of Container Trailer which should state date of loading, type, quantity, address, Declaration Agency and Shipment Port. If Cargo Inspection Company will be present, a special statement needs to suggest that they must arrive on time. Also, one paper of Container information is needed to be sent back, including Container No., Car Number and Driver’s contact phone number.
    11.2．Fax one paper of car information to the factory, including date of stuffing container, type, booking space number, order number, car number and driver’s contact number.
    11.3．Ask factory to fax one paper of loading information to the sales department after they deliver the container, including leaving date of container, actual loading quantity. And please remember to write down container number and seal number as the information of bill of landing. Require factory to seal the container after loading cargo.
    12．Appoint for customs declaration: Offer relevant information to cooperate Customs Declaration Agency when arranging container trailer. Entrust Cooperate Customs Declaration Agency with export declaration and make Commodity Inspection clearance exchange paper. Normally, it takes two days to declare customs( before closing date). While entrust customs declaration, offer one paper of loading information, including Description of Cargo, quantity, port, Shipping Company, Cargo Booking Number, Container Number, Date of Closing and opening, Trailer Car Company, container type, quantity, own company’s contact person and number.
    13． Obtain transport documents：
    13.1． Not late in two days after date of departure, fax SI to Shipping Company or Freight Forwarding Company. SI is made according to L/C or customer’s demand, offering proper cargo quantity, special requirements, and vessel approvement from the shipping company with bill of landing and etc.
    13.2． Supervise and inspect shipping company to offer sample of bill of landing and freight bill as soon as possible. After check sample carefully to make sure there is no mistake, then confirm B/L with Shipping Company in written form. If the bill of landing is required to be confirmed by customer, fax sample of B/L to customer, request an original copy from Shipping Company after confirmation.
    13.3． Pay for freight and sundry charges immediately, inform shipping company after payment and get bill of landing and other transportation documents immediately. The paid freight should be registered.
    　　 14． Preparation of other documents
    14.1．Commercial Invoice: Among the documents L/C needs to provide, the requirement for Commercial Invoice is the most strict. Date of Invoice needs to be after the opening date of L/C, before the date of delivery. The description of cargo needs to be the same with L/C completely. The terms in the L/C against invoice should be stated, especially shipping mark. If invoice needs to be approved by the other party’s embassy, normally 20 days in advance for approval is required.
    14.2．FORMA Certificate of Original：FORMA Certificate of Original needs to be processed in the CCIB before shipment. Please note that date of transportation needs to be before date of delivery in L/C and date of departure, and after date of Invoice. When it is unable to transact before shipment, customs declaration documents, bill of landing and other documents are in demand for issuing the certificate after transacting. For the cargo forwarded in Hong Kong, FORMA Certificate usually needs Chinese Commodity Inspection in China to sign as a proof for not reprocessing cargo in the terminal.
    14.3．General Certificate of Original: General Certificate of Original can be processed in China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. The requirement is a little lower. It is possible to reapply not long after delivery. If the Certificate needs endorsement from the Embassy, it requires 20 days in advance same as Invoice to process.
    14.4．Loading Announcement: Generally, it requires to inform customer the detail of cargo in a few days after departure, including vessel name, time, date of departure, estimated arrival date, description of cargo, quantity, amount, packing pieces, shipping mark, destination agent and etc. Sometimes, L/C will request statement of sending, such as fax report and documents of letter sending. Please process it in customer’s requested time.
    14.5．Packing list: Packing list should clearly state the packing information of cargo, including each container’s quantity, gross weight, net weight and external container size. The calculated total volume by external container size needs to accord with stated total volume, including shipping mark and container number for customer’s viewing. Quantity and volume in packing list need to accord with bill of landing.
    15．Acceptance：
    15.1．Collect the payment by L/C, it is required to prepare all documents, examine well and make sure no mistake in certain period of acceptance, then send negotiation to the bank.
    15.2．Collect the payment by T/T, after receiving bill of landing, fax it to the customer for payment. When confirm receiving spare money, send original copy and other documents to customer.
    15.3．Collect the payment by T/T, loading container only after receiving total amount. After that, arrange container trailer. After receiving bill of landing, it is possible to send original bill of landing to customer.
    16．Transaction Entry: Every export business needs to be registered immediately after finish, including computer and written registration for future search, statics and etc.
    17．File saving: A whole set of all files, L/C and negotiation documents needs to be saved for future search.
    18．Document operator needs to collect floating freight rate, shipping schedule, line and other information to help salesperson in quotation.