subject: Canada To Us Shipping Paperwork [print this page] When you're shipping from one country to another, you need to make sure that you have the paperwork in order before you do so. When you're just shipping from one city to another, if some paperwork is missing, it's usually inconsequential. A quick phone call to your Atlanta delivery company and the right paperwork is sent out, and the problem is solved. When you're shipping across an international border though, even the one between Canada and the United States, missing, incomplete, or incorrect paperwork can have much larger consequences.
More often than not, the paperwork that is required for shipping between these two countries is fairly minor. There are exceptions to that rule. If you're shipping any type of products which is part of any kind of international trade agreement, then you will need papers showing that you are shipping as per the terms of that agreement. NAFTA is a good example of this. There are also times when you're shipping goods which are worth a certain amount of money where you may need to have a license for importing or exporting.
The other type of paperwork that you need for shipping between these two countries is fairly basic. The two documents which are going to need to be sent with every package, big and small, are the bill of lading and the commercial invoice. The invoice is a simple matter, prepared by the selling company, which shows what was sold and for how much money it was bought. The invoice needs to be sent with packages even as small as a single item which was sold on eBay. Normally, an extra copy of the invoice should also be included within the package itself.
The bill of lading is the other document which needs to go with every package across the border. You will often see bill of lading written as BOL, but both terms refer to the same document. This is the document which is created by the courier company that contains all of the information about the actual shipping of the products in question. It will show when the products were picked up, and the address of the location they were picked up from. It will also show when and where they are going to be delivered to. The cost of shipping is also listed. Customs agents need to know where goods are coming from, and where they are going, and all that information is contained in the BOL.
by: Conner Calhoun
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