Lost foreign trade documents: preventive measures and remedies

In foreign trade business, the loss of documents is a headache for many exporters. This may not only be due to the exporter’s own negligence in producing and keeping the documents, but may also occur during the delivery of the documents to the postal or courier company for delivery. When such an incident occurs, although it is necessary to hold people accountable, it is more important to take effective measures to remedy the situation.

Precautionary measures

In order to prevent documents from being lost, companies should establish a clear process for document production and delivery. For those cases where the salesperson prepares and keeps the documents themselves, ensure that each document has detailed filing records. A senior salesperson shared an effective practice: create a customer file immediately after the transaction is confirmed, and list all the required documents, their processing time and collection records. In addition, if the company has a dedicated document clerk, in addition to the document clerk himself needing to maintain good record-keeping habits, he should also establish a complete document handover registration system with the business department to reduce the number of errors in the handover process. Possible omissions.

Remedy

Once you discover that a document is missing, you should take immediate action. If the documents are self-produced, such as invoices or packing lists, they can be reissued directly. For those important documents issued by state agencies or third-party agencies, you need to contact the relevant agencies as soon as possible to understand their reissue procedures.

For a special document like the bill of lading, the processing after loss is more complicated. On the one hand, the freight forwarding company can try to reissue the bill of lading or use telex release to solve the problem. However, since different shipping companies have different regulations on this, and reissuance of bills of lading involves greater risks for the freight forwarding company, success depends on the trust of both parties. Especially when faced with an instruction bill of lading, even if the freight forwarder is willing to assist, the shipper may be required to provide a high deposit as a guarantee.

Processing of Certificate of Origin

When the certificate of origin is lost or needs to be modified, an application must be made to the corresponding visa agency in accordance with relevant regulations and the necessary supporting materials must be submitted. During this process, it is important to ensure that all steps are in compliance so that you can successfully obtain your new certificate.

In short, in foreign trade operations, proper management of documents and timely remediation are crucial to ensuring the smooth progress of business. Through the above suggestions, we hope to help companies be prepared and respond quickly when encountering such problems.