Guides to export documents

What must match between the bill of lading, the commercial invoice and the packing list?The bill of lading, the commercial invoice and the packing list describe the same container, so the facts they share must agree: the container and seal numbers, the cartons and weights, the goods, the parties and the ports. They may be worded differently, but they must never contradict each other: under the banks' rule, UCP 600 article 14(d), data need not be identical but must not conflict. A conflict can stop a letter of credit payment or hold a container at import, so exporters compare the set before the originals are sent. What is an SPS import clearance for frozen meat in the Philippines, and how long is it valid?An SPS import clearance (SPSIC) is the permit the Philippine Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Industry issues to a licensed Philippine importer before each shipment of frozen meat is loaded. Under Department Circular 14 of 2025 it is valid until its Must Ship Out By date, 90 days after issue for meat and 45 days for frozen fish, and the container must be loaded at origin by that date. Each clearance covers one shipment, cannot be transferred, and must agree with the product, quantity and plants on the other documents. The period has changed before, so read the date on the clearance and check the current circular. What documents do you need to export frozen pork to the Philippines?To export frozen pork to the Philippines you need an SPS import clearance that the Philippine importer gets before loading, a veterinary health certificate from your country's veterinary service on the model agreed with the Philippines, a commercial invoice, a packing list and a bill of lading, plus a certificate of origin when the buyer, the bank or a trade agreement asks for it. The pork must come from an eligible plant in an accepted country, and the cartons must be labelled. The product, quantity and plants on every document must agree with the clearance, because the Philippine inspectors check the documents against it on arrival. Why must every plant number on the health certificate also be on the SPS import clearance?The SPS import clearance is the Philippine permit for one meat shipment, issued before loading, and in practice it lists the plants the meat comes from. On arrival the quarantine officer checks the health certificate, invoice and packing list against it, and the meat inspectors check the documents again at the cold store. A plant that is on the documents but not on the clearance makes them inconsistent with it: a consignment that breaks its clearance's terms can be seized, and inconsistent import documents are an adverse finding. That is why exporters make sure, before loading, that the clearance covers every plant on the documents. What are the most common letter of credit discrepancies, and what do they cost?Most letter of credit refusals come from timing: shipping after the latest shipment date, or presenting the documents more than 21 days after shipment or after the credit expires. The rest come from documents that conflict with each other, describe the goods differently from the credit, lack a signature or endorsement, show the wrong consignee or notify party, insure less than 110 percent, or include a bill of lading that is not clean or not shipped on board. The ICC estimates that 65 to 80 percent of document sets are refused on first presentation. Each refusal costs a bank fee (USD 50 to EUR 175 in the published tariffs we checked), and the bank is no longer bound to pay: payment waits for the buyer to accept the discrepancies. Gross weight vs net weight on a packing list: how do you check that the lot rows add up?Net weight is the product alone; gross weight adds the cartons, liners and labels, so on a packing list of frozen cartons gross is always higher than net. The lot rows must add up to the printed totals for cartons, net weight and gross weight, and those totals are the figures the other documents repeat: the invoice and the health certificate usually show net weight, the bill of lading gross. A wrong row matters even when the total looks right, because buyers, cold stores and inspectors count by lot. Consignee vs notify party: who goes where on a bill of lading, and what must match?The consignee is the company the shipping line delivers the goods to, or, on a 'to order' bill, whoever holds the endorsed original; the notify party is only the company the line calls when the ship arrives, and being notified gives no right to the goods. Usually both boxes name the buyer. Under a letter of credit the consignee is often 'to the order of' the issuing bank, so the notify box is the only box on the bill that names the buyer, and the applicant's details there must be exactly as stated in the credit (UCP 600 article 14(j)). The other documents, such as the health certificate, must not conflict with the bill or with the credit. How do you read a plant approval number on a health certificate?A plant approval number identifies a plant that slaughtered, cut, processed or stored the meat, as approved or registered by the exporting country's veterinary service. Each country writes it its own way: in the EU the country code, the number and an EU abbreviation, as in DK 1234 EF inside an oval mark; in Brazil SIF followed by the plant's number; in the United States EST. followed by the number for meat plants and P- for poultry plants (all example numbers). A number only means something together with its country, and some destinations, such as the Philippines, also expect the plant on a list or permit of their own. Export document checklist for a frozen container: what should you check before the originals are sent?Before the originals of a frozen container are sent, check six areas across the documents: the container and its seal, the quantities and weights, the goods, parties and sales terms, the health certificate and the plants behind it, the dates and the carriage temperature, and the destination's own rules. Every value printed on two documents must tell the same story, and the on-board date must fall inside the window that the import permit and any letter of credit allow. Look at the draft bill of lading, when corrections are cheap, and at the final set again. What is a cargo tracking note (ECTN, BESC, FERI), and which African countries need one?A cargo tracking note is an electronic certificate, made for each bill of lading and usually before loading, that tells the destination country's shippers' council or port authority about the cargo before it arrives; its number goes on the bill of lading and the manifest. ECTN is the umbrella name, and countries call it BESC, BSC, FERI, BIETC, CTN or a loading certificate. As of October 2026 we confirmed it from the issuer or a carrier notice for Angola, Benin, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, DR Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, while Ghana's Smart Port Note is deferred and Nigeria's ICTN is not yet in force. The shipper is usually responsible, often through the forwarder, and the rules change, so check before each shipment. Must the commercial invoice show FOB, freight and insurance separately?No general rule says a commercial invoice must show the FOB value, freight and insurance separately: Incoterms 2020 decide who pays for carriage and insurance but do not ask for a split price, and a letter of credit asks for it only when the credit says so. Some destinations do require it, among them the United States (19 CFR 141.86), Canada (the customs invoice asks for freight and insurance) and DR Congo (Bureau Veritas wants the breakdown on the final invoice), and elsewhere money depends on it, such as Ghana's FDA import permit fee, which is set on the FOB value on the invoice. When an invoice shows the split, FOB plus freight plus insurance must add up to the total. Shipping document glossary: 40 terms for frozen food exportsForty terms found on the documents of a frozen food export shipment, A to Z, each explained in one to three plain sentences: the bill of lading and its clauses, the invoice and its sales terms, the packing list and its weights, the health and halal certificates, the import permits and the rules banks use for letters of credit. Use it to see what a box on a document means before you compare it with the other documents.