If you're handling your first import, the trade documents can feel like a memory test — CI, PL, B/L, AWB, and a dozen acronyms more. Here's the relief: most of them aren't yours to write. They're issued by other parties, and your job is mostly to request, check, and pass them along in the right order.
So before you memorise anything, it helps to answer a simpler question: what comes first, and who gives it to me?
So which documents come first?
Requirements change with your goods and countries, but three documents show up in almost every import. Collect these first, then add product-specific paperwork later.
- Commercial Invoice (CI) — the reference document for the deal: goods, quantity, unit price, amount, trade terms, and the parties. Customs and the bank read it first.
- Packing List (PL) — how the goods are actually packed: cartons, pieces, net and gross weight, dimensions. Your broker and forwarder use it to cross-check the invoice.
- Transport document — a Bill of Lading (B/L) for sea freight, or an Air Waybill (AWB) for air. It evidences the carriage and governs how the cargo is released.
Who issues each one?
This is the question that trips up most first-timers — 'who gives me this?'
- CI and PL — the seller (your overseas supplier) prepares and sends them.
- B/L or AWB — the freight forwarder or carrier issues the transport document.
- Import declaration and customs guidance — a customs broker helps you with these.
So out of the core set, you typically receive the CI, PL, and transport document rather than create them.
Then what is actually my job?
Receiving isn't the whole job. You don't author most documents, but a few things are squarely yours:
- Agree the trade terms (Incoterms 2020) and payment method up front. These decide who arranges transport and insurance — and therefore which documents the seller sends you versus which you request from your own forwarder.
- Request the CI and PL from the seller, and confirm the transport document with the forwarder.
- Reconcile the values across documents. The product description, quantity, amount, and weight should agree from one paper to the next.
- Hand a clean, single-shipment bundle to your customs broker, and keep the issued copies.
In short: you set the terms, request, check, and organise. The broker and forwarder carry the parts that need their licence or contract.
A simple first-time order
- Fix your Incoterms and payment terms with the seller.
- Request the commercial invoice and packing list; ask the forwarder for the transport document.
- Put the documents side by side and check that description, quantity, amount, and weight agree.
- Check whether your product triggers certification, inspection, or quarantine — that adds documents.
- Send one shipment bundle to your customs broker, and file the issued copies.
The short version
On your first import, you don't need to memorise every document. You need to know who hands you what, and to keep a place ready to receive it. Once you can see the order, the documents fall into it.
This is general information for getting oriented. Exactly which documents a shipment needs depends on your goods, countries, and terms — for a first deal, it's worth confirming with a freight forwarder and a customs broker.