Export documents, explained with examples

1. Bill of lading

The bill of lading is the shipping line’s receipt for the cargo, the contract to carry it, and a document of title. That last part is what makes it different from every other document here. Whoever presents an original bill of lading at the destination port collects the container. Sellers use that to make sure they are paid: the originals are released to the buyer, often through a bank, only when the money arrives. Three originals are usual; once one is surrendered the others are void.

Two variations save the courier: a telex release, where the shipper surrenders the originals at the origin and the line instructs its destination office to release without them, and a sea waybill, which is not a document of title at all and is used between trusted parties. If you are not sure you will be paid, use neither.

The air waybill does the same job for air cargo with one difference: it is not a document of title. The consignee named on it collects the goods with identification, so a seller who wants payment first names a bank or its own agent as consignee. The number is eleven digits, the first three being the airline’s code. A road consignment note is the equivalent for trucking, and at a SADC border the truck, the consignment note, the invoice and the export declaration must all agree.

2. Certificates of origin: SADC, EUR.1 and the ordinary chamber certificate

A certificate of origin proves which country the goods come from. There are two kinds, and confusing them is expensive.

• The non-preferential certificate is issued by a chamber of commerce and simply states the country of origin. Buyers, banks and some import authorities ask for it. It does not reduce any duty.
• The preferential certificate proves the goods qualify under a trade agreement for a reduced or zero duty in the importing country. For Southern Africa that is the SADC certificate of origin. For the European Union, the United Kingdom and the EFTA countries it is the EUR.1 movement certificate. For the African Continental Free Trade Area there is an AfCFTA certificate. These are issued and certified by SARS Customs, not by a chamber.

How the SARS process works

1. Be registered with Customs as an exporter, and separately registered for the trade agreement you want to use. SARS policy SC-RO-02 is blunt: goods only qualify for a preferential rate if the exporter is registered for that agreement. A clearing agent cannot do this registration in its own name.
2. Make sure the goods actually originate. Each agreement has its own rules: wholly obtained goods, or a minimum local value added, or a change in tariff heading through manufacture. If in doubt, apply to SARS for an origin determination; it is valid for three years and must be decided within 90 working days of a complete application.
3. Apply for blank certificates on form SC-RO-02-A02 at the Customs branch nearest your place of business. One agreement per application, up to 50 blanks for a stated period, with the goods and their four-digit tariff headings listed (six digits for AfCFTA). Supporting documents include supplier declarations for raw materials on form DA 49A.01 and a producer’s declaration on DA 46A.04 where the goods were processed.
4. Complete one certificate per consignment and per tariff chapter, using the tariff description of the goods, and submit it with a copy of the export declaration to Customs for certification. The certified certificate travels with the goods to the importer, who uses it to claim the preferential rate.
5. Keep the proof. Customs, here or in the importing country, can ask you to prove origin after the fact. Supplier declarations, bills of material and costings are what they want.

Two shortcuts exist for the European and EFTA agreements. Below a value threshold set in the agreement, a registered exporter may put an origin declaration on the invoice instead of an EUR.1. Above it, a company that exports regularly can apply for Approved Exporter status under SARS policy SC-CF-19, on form DA 49A.02, and then declare origin on its invoices for all consignments, quoting its customs authorisation number. SARS also notes that a certificate is not transferable: only the parties named on it can use it.

3. Certificates of conformity and pre-export verification

A growing number of countries refuse to inspect goods at their own ports. They appoint international inspection companies to check regulated products in the exporting country before loading, and to issue a certificate of conformity that must accompany the shipment. The programmes have different names but the same shape.

The appointed companies are the same few names in every programme: Bureau Veritas, Cotecna, Intertek, SGS and TÜV among them, each holding the contract for particular countries. The route is usually one of three: physical inspection and testing of each shipment; registration of a product that ships often, which reduces each shipment to a document check; or licensing of a manufacturer with a proven quality system. Fees are charged on the value of the goods and are paid by the exporter unless the sale terms say otherwise.

Pre-shipment inspection is the same activity ordered privately. A buyer, or a bank under a letter of credit, appoints an inspection company to witness the goods, count them, check them against the order and the packing list, and sometimes seal the container. The inspection report or clean report of findings is then a condition of payment. It costs money and a day, and it is far cheaper than a dispute over what was in a container that has already sailed.

4. Certificate of analysis

A certificate of analysis says that a specific batch of a product was tested against its specification and gives the results. It comes from the manufacturer’s own quality control laboratory or from an independent laboratory, ideally one accredited by the South African National Accreditation System. Buyers of chemicals, food ingredients, pharmaceuticals, minerals and metals will not accept a batch without one, and it is the document you reach for first when a customer complains.

5. The rest of the file

• Commercial invoice. Seller, buyer, invoice number and date, a description of each item that matches the tariff description, the tariff heading, quantity, unit price, currency, total, the Incoterm and named place, country of origin, and your customs client number. Customs on both sides value the goods from this document.
• Packing list. Per package: marks, contents, net and gross weight, dimensions. It must reconcile to the invoice and to the container and seal numbers on the transport document.
• Phytosanitary certificate from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development for plants, seed, fruit, grain and timber, and a veterinary health certificate from the state veterinarian for animal products. Both are issued after inspection and the importing country prescribes the wording.
• Fumigation certificate for wooden pallets and crates. Most countries apply the international standard ISPM 15, which needs the timber heat-treated or fumigated and marked with the IPPC stamp.
• Insurance certificate when you sell on CIF or CIP terms, showing the insured value, usually 110 percent of the invoice, and the voyage.
• Export permit from the International Trade Administration Commission for controlled goods. Scrap metal, some chemicals, certain minerals and second-hand goods are on the list. The trade compliance service prepares permit applications.
• Safety data sheet and dangerous goods declaration for anything hazardous. They have their own guide: dangerous goods and safety data sheets.

What actually goes wrong

• The wrong certificate of origin for the destination, as in the example above. SADC for a non-SADC country, or a chamber certificate where the buyer needed a preferential one to get the duty rate that was priced into the deal.
• Applying for the certificate after the goods have sailed. SARS will issue a retrospective certificate only in exceptional circumstances and only one per application.
• Descriptions that do not match across documents. “Pumps” on the invoice, “machinery” on the bill of lading and “spares” on the packing list will stop a container at any port.
• Shipping regulated goods to a PVoC country without the certificate, on a forwarder’s assurance that it can be sorted out on arrival. It usually cannot.
• Originals of the bill of lading sent to the buyer before payment, which is the same as handing over the goods.

Frequently asked questions