Export Documents Checklist: What You Need and Who Issues Each

The core set and who issues each

Most export documents come from the seller. The carrier, or a forwarder acting as carrier, issues the transport document; the exporter or its customs broker files the export declaration; chambers of commerce, insurers and inspection bodies issue certificates. Make the commercial documents first, because the others copy their data.

Under EXW the buyer must handle export clearance, with the seller only assisting. If you load the goods or file the export declaration yourself anyway, sell FCA at your premises instead (see Triplicate's note on common Incoterms mistakes).

• Proforma invoice (seller): the offer or price confirmation before shipment. The buyer approves the order, pays in advance or applies for a letter of credit against it, and in some countries uses it to get an import licence or buy foreign currency.
• Commercial invoice (seller): the final bill for the goods actually shipped, one per shipment. Customs uses it to check what the goods are, what they are worth and where they come from, and banks pay against it under a credit.
• Packing list (seller): what is in each package, with carton numbers, quantities, net and gross weights, dimensions and marks; prices usually stay on the invoice. India lists a commercial invoice cum packing list among the mandatory export documents.
• Shipping instruction (seller to the forwarder or carrier): shipper, consignee, notify party, marks, description, packages, gross weight and volume, and the type of B/L wanted. The carrier copies these particulars onto the bill of lading.
• Export declaration (exporter, or its customs broker or agent): in India a shipping bill filed on ICEGATE, after which customs issues the Let Export Order; in the US, Electronic Export Information filed in AES by the U.S. principal party in interest or its agent.

Transport document: bill of lading, sea waybill or air waybill

The carrier, or a forwarder acting as carrier, issues the transport document when it takes over the goods. A bill of lading (B/L) is the receipt for the goods and evidence of the contract of carriage, and an original made out "to order" is also a document of title: the holder of an original can claim the goods. Originals are normally issued as a set, often three ("3/3"), and once one is surrendered at destination the others are void.

A sea waybill is non-negotiable: the named consignee collects on proof of identity, without an original. A telex release is not a separate document; the originals are handed back at origin and the carrier releases without them. Through a forwarder (NVOCC) you receive its house B/L, while the forwarder holds the shipping line's master B/L. Air freight moves on an air waybill and express parcels on the courier's waybill.

Choose the document with the payment term. If you rely on the paper to get paid, as with a balance against copy B/L, D/P or most letters of credit, ship on original to-order bills and keep the full set until you are paid or hand it to your bank. A sea waybill or telex release suits payment in advance or a buyer you trust (see Triplicate's note on telex release, sea waybill and original B/L).

Certificate of origin, insurance and registration numbers

A certificate of origin (C/O) is needed only when the importing country, the contract or a letter of credit asks for one, or when the importer claims a trade-agreement rate. A non-preferential C/O states where the goods were made and usually comes from a chamber of commerce, in a few countries from a government body (in Viet Nam, the Ministry of Industry and Trade since 5 May 2025). A preferential proof is, depending on the agreement, a certificate from customs or another issuing body, such as Form E, Form RCEP or a EUR.1, or a statement by the exporter, producer or importer (see Triplicate's note on certificates of origin).

Only CIF and CIP oblige the seller to insure: CIF at least Institute Cargo Clauses (C), CIP Clauses (A), for at least the contract price plus 10%, unless agreed otherwise. Under a letter of credit the insurance document must be issued and signed by an insurer, underwriter or their named agent, not a broker's cover note, in the credit's currency, for at least 110% of the CIF or CIP value unless the credit says otherwise, and dated no later than shipment or showing cover from that date. Some countries, such as Brazil and Nigeria, do not allow foreign transport insurance on imports, so check before selling CIF or CIP there.

Customs identifies the parties by registration numbers, and brokers and carriers often copy them from the commercial invoice and packing list, so show the exporter's and importer's numbers there.

• EU: every business established in the EU needs an EORI number to import, export or transit goods; a non-EU business needs one only for listed activities, such as lodging declarations itself. A VAT number is not an EORI.
• UK: a GB EORI (GB plus 12 digits) to move goods between Great Britain and other countries, and an XI number to move goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain or from Northern Ireland to a non-EU country.
• India: an Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) from DGFT, the same 10 characters as the business's PAN, updated every April to June; the bank's AD code registered on ICEGATE; and, to export without paying IGST, a Letter of Undertaking (LUT) filed each financial year.

Documents that depend on the product

Check the goods before you quote, because some of these documents take time and must exist before loading. A small quantity or a duty relief does not lift product rules: samples of food, cosmetics or goods with lithium batteries can need the same permits, registrations or dangerous goods handling as a full order.

• Export licence or general authorisation (exporter, from its national authority): for listed dual-use items, such as those in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2021/821, and for some US items with an ECCN on the Commerce Control List, depending on destination and end use. Most consumer goods are not listed, but screen the buyer, consignee and end user anyway.
• Dangerous goods declaration (shipper, signed by trained staff): a Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods by air, or a dangerous goods declaration and container packing certificate by sea under the IMDG Code. Forwarders and airlines ask for the safety data sheet (SDS), whose Section 14 gives the transport data, and lithium batteries need a UN 38.3 test summary. Perfume (UN1266), aerosols (UN1950) and lithium batteries are common cases; small lithium batteries can use lighter rules.
• ISPM 15 wood packaging (pallet or crate supplier, under the national plant protection organization): solid wood pallets, crates and dunnage must be debarked, treated and stamped with the IPPC mark, which replaces a phytosanitary certificate. State the packaging and its ISPM 15 status on the packing list; get a treatment certificate only if the buyer, bank or destination asks.
• Product registrations (destination regulator, applied for by the maker, importer or a local responsible person, depending on the rule): for example FDA facility registration and prior notice for every food shipment to the US, CPNP notification by an EU Responsible Person for cosmetics, or GACC registration of food factories for China, whose number goes on the packaging and in the import declaration.
• Certificate of conformity (inspection body appointed or licensed by the destination regulator): needed per shipment of regulated goods for Kenya, Nigeria (SONCAP), Tanzania, Uganda, Côte d'Ivoire and Iraq; Saudi Arabia uses SABER product and shipment certificates. Goods arriving without one face destination inspection, surcharges of up to 15% of CIF value, or refusal.

Documents that depend on payment

On open account you send the documents directly to the buyer, and with payment in advance a sea waybill or telex release saves courier time. Under a letter of credit, banks pay only against documents that comply with the credit: usually the commercial invoice, the transport document (for sea freight, normally the full set of original B/Ls), the insurance document on CIF or CIP, a packing list and certificate of origin if called for, and often a draft. Present them within 21 calendar days after shipment, unless the credit sets another period, and before expiry.

The commercial invoice under a credit must be issued by the beneficiary, made out to the applicant and in the credit's currency, with a goods description that corresponds to the credit, and it must not be titled pro-forma. Other documents may describe the goods in general terms; their data need not be identical but must not conflict with the credit or each other (UCP 600 Article 14(d)). If the credit names an issuer, such as a chamber of commerce for the C/O, only that issuer may issue it (see Triplicate's note on L/C discrepancies).

In a documentary collection (D/P or D/A under URC 522), your bank sends the documents to a bank in the buyer's country, which releases them against payment or acceptance of a draft; banks do not guarantee payment. Use collections only for sea shipments on a full set of original to-order B/Ls sent through the bank, because with a telex release, a sea waybill or air freight the buyer can take the goods without going through the bank.

Keeping the documents consistent

Customs compares the declaration with the invoice, packing list and the carrier's manifest, and a different package count, weight, quantity, description or consignee is a common trigger for a hold. Banks apply the same test under a credit, and inspection bodies compare the goods with the final invoice and packing list before issuing a CoC. Make every document from one data set, and finalise the invoice and packing list before the C/O or CoC copies from them.

Differences are fine only where the shipment itself differs from the order, such as the quantities and weights actually shipped within any tolerance in the contract or credit. Correct an invoice already sent with a corrected invoice or a credit or debit note, never by quietly editing it.

• Parties: the same shipper, consignee and notify party names and addresses, with the same EORI or other numbers.
• Goods: the same description and HS code on the invoice, C/O and any CoC; the packing list and B/L may use a general description that does not conflict.
• Packages: the same number and kind of packages, marks and carton numbers; for pallets, show both units, for example 4 PALLETS STC 160 CARTONS.
• Weights and volume: the same net and gross weights and CBM, in one unit with the same decimals; the B/L gross weight equals the packing list total.
• Terms: the same Incoterm, named place and "Incoterms 2020", currency and payment term on the proforma, invoice and credit, and a B/L freight statement that fits (prepaid on CIF or CFR, collect on FOB or FCA).
• References and value: the proforma, order and L/C numbers on the invoice, the invoice number on the C/O, and the real price with freight and insurance shown separately.