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These instructions are meant to be a guide to understanding how to
determine what paperwork is needed to get your commodity into
your destination country of interest and thus empower you. DHL, FEDEX
and UPS all have customs clearance departments. The necessary
commodity research for your shipment can always be performed by them.
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The Most Important Part of Shipping Internationally is The Paperwork.
1. Find out if your shipment a document or a commodity.
This is not as obvious as you may think at first glance.
Mexico has 9 classifications for documents and Brazil has over 25 (including CDs, Photographs, Diskettes,
Microfilm, Microfiche, Sepia portraits).
Once you know if your shipment is a document or commodity you begin to assemble the necessary paperwork.
2. If your shipment is a commodity check to see if there are any prohibitions or restrictions associated with your commodity.
2a. First find out if there are any prohibited or restricted commodities.
2b. Then find out what are the commodity specific stipulations.
2c. Then look to see if there are any special clearance requirements for your commodity.
This step will help you determine if your commodity can enter the country (2a), your commodity requires a special transportation method or paperwork (2b), your commodity requires import licenses or special declarations on the invoice (2c).
3. Find out the harmonized tariff code for commodity.
4. Find out if your destination country considers your shipment commercial or personal.
5. Find out what are the invoice requirements.
6. Find out if it is necessary to fill out a shipper’s export declaration (otherwise skip to step 10).
7. Sign up for an account at AESDIRECT to fill out shipper’s export declaration electronically.
8. Take Tutorial on using AESDIRECT software interface. We have tips on taking the Shipper’s Export Declaration Tutorial.
9. Fill out a shipper’s export declaration using the harmonized tariff code previously obtained.
10. Prepare package according to country specific size and weight limitations. Make sure that package
contents are consistent with prepared paperwork.
11. Prepare a packing list.
12. Assemble all paperwork:
- Commercial or Proforma Invoice
- Packing List
- Certificate of Origin (if needed)
- Shipper’s Export Declaration (if needed)
- Export Permits (if needed)
13. Find out from your previous research of you have a choice between air shipment or freight. Some commodities need to be sent by freight (i.e. perfume).
14. Choose a carrier.
15. Prepare an Airway bill for air shipments or a Bill of Lading for freight.
16. Indicate to carrier when preparing airway bill or bill of lading whether duties and taxes will be paid by the shipper or the consignee (shipment recipient).
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Note: This is the most common cause of customs delay of international shipments by inexperienced shippers.
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17. Have carrier pick up package with paperwork.
18. Track package and wait to hear from your consignee of its arrival.
Good Luck and Good Shipping
Your How To Ship Advisor
Comments (0) Posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008
0. What is the Shipper’s Export Declaration?
The Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) is a commerce department form (Form 7525-V) that is required by law to enable the Census Bureau to compile official U.S. export statistics.
1. Where can I get the Shipper’s Export Declaration form?
The form can only be filled out electronically. You must go the AES Direct and get certified to use their site to fill out the form.
2. How Do I get certified to use the AES Direct site?
You must download a tutorial and pass the certification exam after the tutorial. We have some tips for passing the AES Direct Certification Exam.
3. What is harmonized tariff code?
The harmonized tariff code are a classification system used worldwide in classifying goods moving in international trade under a single commodity. the schedule B numbers are part of the harmonized code and the numbers used in filling out the SED, commercial invoices and other forms.
4. What are the Schedule B numbers?
The Schedule B numbers are part of the Harmonized Classification Code. They are used specifically by the United States for export purposes.
5. Who is the USPPI?
Those persons in a transaction that receive the primary benefit, monetary or otherwise, of the transaction.
Generally That Person Can Be The:
* U.S. Seller (wholesaler/distributor) of the merchandise for export.
* U.S. Manufacturer if selling the merchandise for export.
* U.S. Order Party - Party who directly negotiated between the U.S. seller and foreign buyer and received the order for the export of the merchandise.
* Foreign Entity if in the U.S. when items are purchased or obtained for export.
6. In filling out the Shipper’s Export Declaration-do we use schedule b or harmonized tariff?
If you are exporting you use the schedule b numbers. If you are importing you use the harmonized tariff. In all cases they will have the same first six digits. The schedule b numbers explicitly in the United States will have additional digits for further classification.
7. What is the ITN?
The ITN is an internal transaction number and can only be obtained when filling out the Shipper’s Export Declaration online at AESDirect.
| Other viewpoints on Shipper’s Export Declaration:
What export documents do I need? - The Shipper’s Export Declaration is the most common document and outlines the shipper’s intent to export. The Commercial Invoice is a bill for the goods from the seller to the buyer, which is used to assess customs duties. …
Transporting Goods Internationally - US Department of Commerce’s (DOC’s) Bureau of Export Administration (BEA) to determine if your product may be subject to export controls (see Part II, The Exporter’s Directory). Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) …
Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Shipper’s Export … - The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information … |
8. How do I get the ITN?
The ITN (internal transaction number) is generated by AES Direct when you initiate a shipment. See tips for passing the AES Direct Certification Exam.
Good Luck and Good Shipping
Your How To Ship Advisor
Comments (2) Posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008
The Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) is a commerce department form (Form 7525-V) that is required by law to enable the Census Bureau to compile official U.S. export statistics. This form is required for materials originating in the United States or Puerto Rico only.
The conditions under which an SED must be filed are as follows:
• The value of a single Schedule B commodity exceeds $2,500.00
• The shipment is traveling under an export license
• The destination includes territories that are currently experiencing strained relations with the United States such as Cuba
Shipments from the U.S. to Canada do not have to be reported in an SED except those requiring an export license.
How Do I fill out the form?
Most shippers will fill out the form on AESDirect.gov. The unfortunate thing is that when you register you need to take a tutorial and pass a certification exam to show that you know how to use the site before you can actually use the site. This can be frustrating especially if you are under a time constraint. In addition the tutorial which must be downloaded is a little confusing at first. It is ironic that the tagline for AESDirect is “Reducing Export Stress With AES” as my stress level increased dramatically when I found out that I had to sign up, take tutorial and certification exam before I could use their system.
The certification exam is made up of 30 questions and you must score 90% to pass the exam. In order to facilitate your tutorial process we have outlined the information that is important to AESDirect. This outline along with the tutorial should help you pass the certification exam on the first go around.
How do I pass the Automated Export System (AES) tutorial.
The tutorial is broken down into 5 segments:
• Introduction to AES
• USPPI Profile Maintenance
• Consignee Profile Maintenance
• Freight Forwarder Profile Maintenance
• Creating a Shipment
Important Lessons from the tutorial
Here are some points that were emphasized in the AES tutorial that you may miss taking the exma the first time around.
1. Do not use “&” when filling out form.
2. Do not use “-” when filling out form.
3. After entering information hit Tab and/or enter to proceed.
4. To retrieve a shipment you need a shipment number.
5. When the shipment is retrieved you get access to the USPPI, ITN and XTN
6. To check the status of a shipment you go to the shipment report center and you get an email message.
7. AES assigns the ITN number.
8. To delete a shipment you need the USPPI and the shipment number.
9. Consignee profiles are linked to USPPI
10. Freight Forwarder profiles are linked to USPPI and must be created by the USPPI
11. All profiles can be searched by name.
12. Each USPPI profile contains company information and cargo origin information.
13. You need a cargo origin information for all shipment locations.
14. One profile can have many cargo origin locations.
15. To fill out a USPPI profile you need a company name, EIN, contact name and number.
16. When looking for a USPPI you can enter part of name and look up corresponding USPPI for a match.
17. When you select the USPPI the EIN get populated in the shipment declaration being prepared.
18. The USPPI need to fill out the profile for the freight forwarder.
19. The consignee profile gets attached to a USPPI.
20. The freight forwarder or the USPPI fills out the consignee information.
21. When creating a shipment you can add more that one email for responses by separating them by commas.
22. The shipment number is always created by the shipper up to 17 characters and must be unique.
23. Transport reference is mandatory for vessel shipment.
24. There is a lookup table for port of exports codes. Input a “?” to get to table.
25. There is a lookup table for port of unlading codes. Input a “?” to get to table.
26. Input departure date using the following format mm/dd/yy.
27. Fill in the best estimate for the date of departure if you do not know it for sure.
28. Mode of transport has to be filed in.
29. When there are various segments involved in the shipping of an international item such as manufacture, shipment, usage etc., the USPPI is always the entity in the US that benefits monetarily from the shipment.
30. Each SED created has to be connected to a USPPI.
31. To input the Schedule B or Harmonized Tariff Code use the line item option.
32. There is a lookup feature for Schedule B or Harmonized Tariff Code.
33. Schedule B or Harmonized Tariff Code is a 10 digit number.
34. Do not use any “.” in the number.
35. The quantity of the commodity is always in units designated in the Schedule B or Harmonized Tariff Code rounded up to the next whole number.
36. Commodity value is always in dollars.
37. Commodity gross weight must be in kilograms.
38. Although a commodity does not require an export license it still may require and SED.
39. Clear section will clear everything from a particular section.
40. The number of profiles templates that can be created is neither 1000 nor 50.
More about Automated Export System (AES)
Shipper Export Declaration-Frequently Asked Questions
The following two sources provide more detailed information about Automated Export System (AES):
Good Luck and Good Shipping
Your How To Ship Advisor
Comments (2) Posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008
