🎯 In 30 seconds: Export paperwork uses a lot of shorthand. Here are 46 terms you will see on quotes, invoices, bank forms and forwarder emails, each in a sentence or two. The other export pages go deeper on the big ones.
A to C
- ACE: CBP’s online trade portal. You reach AESDirect through it.
- AES: Automated Export System, where Electronic Export Information is filed.
- AESDirect: the free Census Bureau tool for filing EEI yourself.
- Air waybill: the transport document for air cargo. Unlike an ocean bill of lading, it is not a title document.
- BIS: Bureau of Industry and Security, the Commerce agency that runs export controls.
- Bill of lading: the carrier’s receipt and contract for the shipment. An original ocean bill can act as title to the goods.
- Certificate of origin: a document stating where goods were made. FTA versions can cut the buyer’s duty.
- Commercial invoice: the final bill for the goods. Customs in both countries rely on it.
- Confirmed letter of credit: an LC that a second bank, usually in the US, also promises to pay.
- Consignee: the party the goods are shipped to.
- Consolidated Screening List: trade.gov’s free search across US restricted-party lists.
- Customs broker: a licensed firm that clears goods through customs for the importer.
D to H
- DDP: Delivered Duty Paid. The seller pays everything, including the buyer’s import duty.
- Documentary collection: banks swap shipping documents for payment or a promise to pay, with no bank guarantee.
- Drawback: a refund of duties, taxes and fees paid on imported goods that are later exported or destroyed.
- Dual-use: items with both civilian and military uses. Most of the EAR is about these.
- EAR: Export Administration Regulations, the main US export control rules.
- EAR99: the label for items subject to the EAR but not on the Commerce Control List. Usually no license needed.
- ECCN: Export Control Classification Number, a five-character code for controlled items.
- EEI: Electronic Export Information, the export declaration filed in AES.
- Export license: written permission from BIS (or the State Department for defense items) to ship a controlled item to a named buyer and country.
- EXIM: Export-Import Bank of the United States. It offers export credit insurance and financing.
- FCA: Free Carrier. You hand the goods to the buyer’s carrier at a named place.
- FOB: Free on Board. Risk passes when goods are loaded on the ship. Sea freight only.
- Freight forwarder: a company that books and coordinates transport and paperwork for you.
- FTA: free trade agreement. The US has them with 20 countries.
- HS code: the six-digit international product code shared by most countries.
- HTS: Harmonized Tariff Schedule, the 10-digit US import code list.
I to R
- Incoterms®: ICC’s three-letter trade terms that split costs and risk. Current edition: 2020.
- ITN: Internal Transaction Number, the confirmation AES gives for a filing.
- Landed cost: everything the buyer pays to get the goods to their door, duty and taxes included.
- Letter of credit: a bank’s promise to pay you when you present documents that match its terms.
- OFAC: Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which runs sanctions.
- Open account: you ship first and the buyer pays on terms, like 60 days.
- Packing list: a list of what is in each box or pallet, with weights and dimensions.
- Pro forma invoice: a quote in invoice form. Buyers use it to open an LC or get an import license.
- Routed export: the foreign buyer’s forwarder arranges the export. You still supply data.
- Rules of origin: the tests a product must pass to count as from an FTA country.
S to Z
- Schedule B: the 10-digit US export code. Its first six digits are the HS code.
- SDN list: OFAC’s list of blocked people and companies.
- Sight draft: a demand for payment due when the buyer sees the documents.
- STEP: State Trade Expansion Program, SBA grants run by states.
- Tariff: a tax on imported goods, usually a percentage of value. Also called a duty.
- Time draft: a demand for payment due a set number of days after acceptance.
- USPPI: US Principal Party in Interest, the US party that gets the main benefit from the export, usually the seller.
- USEAC: US Export Assistance Center, the local Commercial Service office.