22 Sep All the documents required to export food: a complete guide

Food exports rarely fail because of the product itself. They fail because of the paperwork. A container carrying goods in perfect condition can be held at customs for weeks because one piece of information has been entered incorrectly on a document — and the cost of that delay extends far beyond transport alone.

At Autor Foods, we export 40% of our production to markets both within and outside the European Union. This guide covers all the documentation involved in a food export operation: which documents are required, who issues them, what each one is for and how they relate to one another.

Before exporting: what your company needs to have in place

Before preparing the first document for an operation, two prerequisites need to be addressed. If they are not, they can bring the entire process to a halt:

– Registration as an exporting company. Any company that exports goods must be registered with the relevant authorities and have an EORI number (Economic Operators Registration and Identification), the identifier required by the European Union for all customs operations.

– Knowledge of the product and destination. The product’s tariff classification — its Harmonized System (HS) code — determines which duties, licences and additional certificates apply. Requirements vary depending on the destination country. These codes are developed and maintained by the World Customs Organization (WCO).

Once these requirements have been met, the documentation for an export operation can be divided into three main groups: commercial documents, transport documents and customs documents. There are also Incoterms®, which are not documents themselves but determine how all the other documents are completed, and the choice of port or route of departure, which defines the specific transport documents required.

Commercial documents

These documents provide a written record of the legal and commercial relationship between the exporter and importer. They are prepared first because the transport and customs documentation relies on the information they contain.

The main documents are:

– Proforma invoice. A draft invoice sent by the exporter to the buyer before the transaction is finalised. It has no tax or accounting value, but it already sets out the product, price and payment terms. It enables the importer to complete any procedures required in its own country before the goods are dispatched.

– Commercial invoice. The document confirming the transaction once it has been finalised. It has both commercial and customs value and is used for customs clearance and the calculation of duties.

– Packing list. An itemised list of all the packages, boxes or pallets included in the shipment, together with their weight and contents. It has no commercial value, but allows a customs agent to identify quickly what a container holds without having to open it.

– Non-commercial invoice. Used when the shipment does not arise from a sale, as is the case, for example, when samples are sent. In certain destinations, this may take the form of a consular invoice, certified by the importing country’s consulate, or a customs invoice, required by some customs authorities for statistical purposes.

We examine each of these documents — including the information that every invoice must contain — in the commercial documents required for exporting in the agri-food sector.

Transport documents

These certify that the goods have been handed over to the carrier and establish the conditions under which they will travel. They act both as a contract of carriage and as proof of receipt. In other words, they provide evidence at destination that the goods received correspond to those dispatched.

The document required depends on the mode of transport:

– Bill of Lading (B/L) for maritime transport. This is the most important document in international freight transport. It is issued by the shipping line or its agent and confirms that the cargo has been received for carriage to the port of destination.

– Air Waybill (AWB), the equivalent document for air freight.

– CMR consignment note for road transport.

– Forwarding Certificate of Receipt (FCR), issued by the freight forwarder when acting as a logistics intermediary.

– Transport insurance policy or certificate, covering the goods against damage or loss in transit.

The choice of transport mode — and therefore the document required — depends on the nature of the product, its destination and the delivery time. We explain this in sea, road and air: modes of transport for food exports. You can also find a detailed explanation of each document, including the different types of Bill of Lading, in the transport documents required for food exports.

Customs documents

These are submitted to the customs authorities so that the goods can cross the border. Of the three groups, customs documentation is the most heavily regulated — and the one most likely to cause goods to be held if any information does not match.

The two principal documents are:

– Single Administrative Document (SAD or DUA in Spain). This is the export customs declaration. It contains information about the goods, their value, origin and destination and provides the basis for the tax declaration. In the European Union, it is submitted electronically and is usually prepared by a customs agent or an Authorised Economic Operator acting on behalf of the exporter.

– Certificate of origin. This certifies the country in which the goods were manufactured or produced. Where trade agreements exist between countries, it enables exporters to benefit from preferential tariffs. It is issued by the relevant Chamber of Commerce.

For food products, the destination country may also require specific health or phytosanitary certificates, in addition to the general customs documentation.

Full details — including the circumstances in which certain documents may not be required — can be found in the essential customs documents for exporting in the agri-food sector.

Incoterms®: the common language behind all the documentation

Incoterms® are not a document, but they determine how all the other documents are completed. They are a set of three-letter trade terms — including FOB, CIF, EXW and DAP — created by the International Chamber of Commerce so that buyers and sellers can agree, without ambiguity, the exact point in the journey at which responsibility for the goods transfers, who pays for each stage of transport and who is responsible for insurance.

The agreed Incoterm® appears on the commercial invoice, determines which transport documents each party is responsible for arranging and prevents the most common mistake in an international transaction: the exporter and importer making different assumptions about who is responsible for what. We explain them in Incoterms®: the 12 shipping terms you need to know when buying and selling.

The route of departure: choosing a port and its effect on documentation

Choosing the port or point of departure is not merely a logistics decision. Each route has its own infrastructure and transit times and, for some destinations, additional documentation requirements arising from the trade agreements in force between the country of origin and the destination.

We review the seaports that play the greatest role in international food trade — and explain what makes each one relevant for particular destinations — in the world’s most important seaports for exporting food.

The order in which export documents are prepared

In practical terms, the documentation for an export operation is produced in the following sequence:

-The Incoterm® is agreed with the buyer.

-The proforma invoice is issued.

-The transaction is confirmed and the commercial invoice is issued, showing the agreed Incoterm®.

-The packing list is prepared.

-Transport is arranged according to the chosen mode and the corresponding transport document is issued (B/L, AWB or CMR).

-The SAD/DUA is processed, together with the certificate of origin and any health or phytosanitary certificates required for the destination, where applicable.

-The goods are dispatched and the documentation either travels with them or is transmitted electronically to the importer and the authorities at destination.

An error at any one of these seven stages affects the stages that follow. A commercial invoice showing the wrong Incoterm® means that the transport document may have to be issued again; an incomplete packing list can delay customs clearance even when the SAD/DUA is correct. Export documentation should therefore be treated as what it is: a connected process, rather than a collection of separate forms completed independently.

Before your first export

All this documentation can be managed internally, through a customs agent or with the support of a manufacturer that already has an established process for the product you intend to export. Autor Foods has been exporting canned pulses for more than a century and works with this documentation as a matter of course: proforma and commercial invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin and advice on the most appropriate Incoterms® for each international customer.

If you are considering exporting cooked pulses and would like to know how we manage the process, our export page explains how we support the entire operation, from the proforma invoice through to delivery at destination.