The importer's documentation checklist.

New importers tend to treat documentation as a single pile that arrives with the shipment. It is more useful to separate it into two: the contract set, which defines what you agreed and governs any dispute, and the shipment set, which moves the goods and clears them. They are prepared at different times by different parties, and a gap in the first is far more expensive than a gap in the second.

The contract set is agreed before anything moves. The shipment set is produced at origin around loading, and a substantial part of it is issued by authorities rather than by the seller, which means it is not something a seller can simply promise to provide faster. Contracts for the washed and natural lots described on our coffee page name which documents are supplied and when.

One document deserves attention before all the others: the sales contract. Green coffee is conventionally traded on standard-form contracts published by trade associations, which carry an established set of definitions, tolerances and arbitration provisions. Buying on a bare purchase order instead means every one of those terms is left open, and the first shipment is exactly when that becomes apparent. The origin behind the coffee is described on the Amaro page.

Sales contract

The governing document. It should name the coffee, the harvest year, the quality basis and the sample that governs, the quantity and tolerance, the price and currency, the Incoterms rule and named place, the shipment period, the payment terms, and the arbitration rules that apply. A trade-association standard form supplies most of this by reference.

Commercial invoice

The seller's invoice, and the basis on which customs values the consignment. It must be consistent with the contract, the packing list and the transport document, inconsistencies between these three are one of the most common causes of a delayed clearance.

Packing list and weight note

Bag count, bag type, net and gross weights, and marks. Coffee is bought on weight, so this document is doing commercial work as well as logistical work. Where weight is determined at destination, the contract should say who weighs, where, and what tolerance applies before a claim arises.

Transport document

A bill of lading for sea freight, or the equivalent waybill for other modes. It evidences the contract of carriage and, in the case of a negotiable bill of lading, controls the right to take delivery. Under a letter of credit its exact form is not a detail, it is the instrument the bank pays against.

Insurance certificate

Required where the seller insures, under CIF or CIP. Note that the minimum cover the two rules require is not the same, which is covered in the Incoterms guide.

Certificate of origin

Evidences the country in which the goods originate, and is used in customs clearance and in any preferential tariff claim. Issued at origin by the competent chamber or authority.

ICO certificate of origin

Coffee-specific. The International Coffee Organization operates a certificate of origin system for coffee exported from member producing countries, and consignments carry ICO identification marks. Whether your import requires it, and in what form, depends on the arrangements applying to the exporting and importing countries, confirm the current requirement with your customs broker rather than assuming.

Phytosanitary certificate

Issued by the plant health authority at origin, certifying that the consignment has been inspected and meets the importing country's plant health requirements. Green coffee is a plant product, and this document is a routine condition of entry in most markets.

Export grading certificate

The quality certificate issued by Ethiopia's national coffee authority, carrying the grade assigned to the lot. This is the authoritative record of the grade, as explained in the grading guide. Ask for it by name; a grade stated only on an offer sheet is a claim rather than a certificate.

Fumigation or treatment certificate

Required in some markets and for some packaging, and occasionally required for the wooden dunnage or pallets rather than the coffee itself. Confirm before shipment, because retrospective treatment at destination is disruptive and expensive.

Coffee is within the scope of the EU deforestation regulation, which requires operators placing covered commodities on the EU market to exercise due diligence and to submit a due diligence statement. In practice this shifts a documentation burden upstream to origin, because the information the statement requires can only be produced where the coffee is grown.

• Geolocation data for the plots of land where the coffee was produced, at the precision the regulation specifies.
• Information sufficient to demonstrate the coffee is deforestation-free under the regulation's definition and produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the producing country.
• A documented risk assessment, and risk mitigation where the assessment is not conclusive.
• A due diligence statement submitted through the EU information system before the goods are placed on the market.

Practically, this makes plot-level traceability a compliance input rather than a marketing feature. A supplier who cannot connect a bag to the plots it came from cannot supply what an EU operator needs to file. Zoebar's approach to the lot record is set out on the traceability page.

Beyond the shipping documents sit the limits your own market and your own customers impose. These are contract terms, and they need to be written down before shipment rather than discovered after arrival.

• Moisture maximum, and the point and method of measurement.
• Defect count and the grading standard it is counted under.
• Cup quality basis, and which sample governs approval.
• Contaminant and residue limits applicable in the importing market, including mycotoxin and pesticide residue rules, which differ by jurisdiction and are revised.
• Packaging requirements, including any liner specification.

The regulatory limits in this list are set by the importing market, not by the seller, and they change. Verify the version in force for your market at the time of import, a limit that was correct in a previous season is not a defence.

Green, unroasted, non-decaffeinated coffee is classified separately from roasted and decaffeinated coffee, and in several major markets it attracts a low or zero import duty where roasted coffee does not. That difference is real and worth understanding, but the applicable rate depends on the tariff line, the country of origin, any preferential arrangement in force, and the version of the tariff schedule current at the time of entry.

Alongside duty, budget for the charges that are not duty and are frequently forgotten at quotation stage: terminal handling, customs clearance and entry fees, any inspection or sampling ordered at the border, transport from port to warehouse, and warehousing itself. Under some Incoterms rules several of these fall to the buyer even though the price looked like it covered delivery.

Use it as a conversation opener rather than a form. A supplier's answer to "which of these do you supply, and when in the shipment cycle?" tells you more about how they operate than a specification sheet does. When you are ready to put that question to Zoebar, request a quote.