INTRODUCTION

Export documentation is a tedious but necessary process that all exporters must pay close
attention to , as documentation requirements vary considerably by country, commodity and
situation. Although exporters must fill out and submit many different forms for each
international shipment, most require similar data elements and can be duplicated precisely
from one document to the next. Fortunately, there are software products that capture the
primary details of the shipment and insert them into the necessary documents without missing
any of the required documents. These fast facts will describe many of the documents of a
business will need in order to perform successful export. For this the government has proposed
aligned documentation system for a systematic documentation of export and hence a lot of
software’s have been developed in this regards.

ALIGNED DOCUMENTATION SYSTEM (ADS)

Based on UN layout key and the experience gained in many other developed countries, the
government ofIndia has decided to introduce the ADS with effect from 1 st October-1991.  This system
involves the preparation of documents on a uniform and standard A4 size of paper.

The documents are aligned to one another in such a way that the common items of information are
given the same relative slots in each of the documents included in the system.  This makes it possible
to prepare one “Master Document” embodying the information common to all the documents included
in the aligned series and to run off all the aligned documents from the same Master Document with the
help of suitable masking and reproduction techniques.  The use of masks is intended to blank out such
information as is not required in a particular document.
 
ADS has classified documents in two categories

 Commercial Documents
 Regulatory Documents

But before the application of the above one very essential document is required and that is
called as Import Export Code issue by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT ) withthis
document an Export shipment cannot be performed.

Commericial Documents are further classified into

 Principal documents
 Auxillary Documents

There are 15 Commercial Documents in Export Documentation in which 8 are Principal

Commercial Documents and 7 are Auxillary Documents.
The eight Principal documents are :

1) Commercial Invoice
2) Packing list
3) Bill of lading
4) Certificate of Inspection /Quality Control
5) Certificate of Origin
6) Bill of Exchange
7) Shipment Advise
8) Insurance Certificate

The Seven Auxillary Documents are :

1) Proforma Invoice
2) Intimation for Export
3) Shipping Instructions
4) Insurance Declaration
5) Application Of Certificate of Origin
6) Mates Receipt
7) Letter to bank of collection/Negotiation of documents.

Reugulatory Documents

Regulatory Documents are also called as Pre shipment Documents.There are seven documents
considered under Regulatory Documents:

1) ARE form (for central Excise

2) Shipping Bill (For customs)
 For Export of goods Ex-Bond
 For Export of Duty Free Goods
 For Export of dutiable goods
 For Export of goods under claim of drawback
 For Export of Goods under claim of DEPB
3) Port Trust copy of shipping bill/Export application/Dock Challan (for port)
4) Vehicle Ticket (Port)
5) Exchange Control declaration (RBI)
6) Freight Payment Certificates (Steamer Agents)
7) Insurance payment premium ceritificate (Insurance Co)