Port of Loading and COO
Hi,
We have received an LC which states port of loading as "Any Port in India". Further, it requires COO to be issued. There is no mention as to when the COO should be issued.
I have a query:
What should we mention as port of loading on the invoice? The shipping line has confirmed that the goods will be shipped from Nhava Sheva, Mumbai but is not sure about the terminal ( JNPCT, GTI or NSICT). Even if they confirm the terminal now and we further issue the invoice (to be submitted for COO), terminal can be changed later as well. One option is to just mention Nhava Sheva, Mumbai and make sure that the shipping line also mentions the same on BL and does not mention the terminal name. Another option is to let the sailing happen first and then mention the exact port of loading in the invoice (as per BL) and hand it over to chamber of commerce for COO. In this case, will the COO be valid as it will be issued after the date of shipment?
Many thanks for your help.
1) Unless the LC stipulates that port of loading has to be mentioned in Invoice and Certificate of Origin, there is no need to mention that on the document.
2) If LC stipulates that Port of loading has to be mentioned on both the documents, then it is better to quote the same on the document only after you make sure the name of port/terminal, since both the documents has to consistent with the B/L. If B/L mentions one terminal and both Invoice and COO mentions a different terminal , then the data is inconsistent within the documents.
3) There is no restriction that Certficate of Origin has to be issued prior to shipment, unless LC stipulates the same.
Trust this clarifies.
1. Do you need to mention the port of loading on the invoice at all, whether for the purpose of LC requirement, or Chamber of Commerce requirements? If not, you will not need to debate whether the port of loading matches the container terminal point.
2. There need not be a connection between the port of loading and the origin of the goods, so the Chamber of Commerce should not be influenced by the port of loading in certifying the county of origin of the goods.
Subject to the above two points, you should be able to issue the invoice and request COO from the Chamber of Commerce, prior to shipment.
Agreed that there is no connection between the port of loading and origin of goods. The point is that the invoice has to be given to the chamber for issue of COO. On receipt of invoice, the chamber endorses the invoice and issues a certificate. Now I am not sure whether that endorsed invoice is a part (enclosure) of COO and should be sent along with the COO? If yes then the endorsed invoice should be same as our commercial invoice to avoid any discrepancy.
The port of loading will be mentioned on BL. Hence, is it not mandatory to mention port of loading on the invoice as well?
I have checked up with the chamber of commerce and they have confirmed that COO issued after shipping is valid. In this case it will be better to let the sailing happen and then mention the POL on the invoice and proceed for COO.
Many thanks for you replies.
Yes, the COO can be issued after shipment, but the point I was making was that unless the LC requires it, it would not be mandatory to state POL on the invoice. So, the COO and the invoice could be certified by the CoC before shipment. In any case, unless the LC requires it, you would not need to submit the 'certified' invoice under the LC, and could hold this back.
As LC states port of loading "Any Port in India", you dont need to worry about the terminals as all these are in India, secondly COO can be issued after ship date.
Imran Umer
IamImranUmer@gmail.com
Thank you all for your valuable inputs.
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