This is a blog of SAINT-PETERSBURG BUSINESS GATE, a team of consultants who represent international companies on Russian market.
When you are preparing to send goods to Russia attention should be paid to filling in shipping invoice to reduce questions from Russian Customs.
Shipping invoice along with transport documents (CMR, RWB or B/L) is one of the main
documents used for Customs clearance. All terms and conditions, goods value and description mentioned in shipping invoice should 100% correspond to what was mentioned in Contract.
Invoice can be eighther made in dual languages (In English and in Russian) or it can be made only in English with translation on a separate page. Very often the translation is made by Consignee in Russia, but you should take into consideration that the translation cost money and might cause some delays in Customs clearance.
Please find below attached example of shipping invoice which was successfully used for several years in my previous experience to import goods to Russia. Important fields and comments are marked by red color.
Important notes:
1) If Shipper and Seller are not the same, information on it might be added to Contract and shipping invoice.
2) Normally Invoice date should be not before the Contract date, Invoice should be issued the same date or after the Contract has been signed.
3) If Invoice does not have information on weights and cargo places quantity a packing list wll be needed. In this case it should be clear that packing list corresponds to the exact invoice.
4) Commodity code according to Russian Customs code in first 6 digits corresponds to HS code, 4 following digits may vary.
HINT:
Please send shipping invoice to Consignee for review before shipping out the goods.
