Sunday, May 29, 2011

The bureaucratic environment of the export of plants

We provide these documents with the shipment : Plant Invoice, Packing List, Phytosanitary Certificate and the Attached Sheets, CITES if needed ( and if you sent us your permit to import plants under the CITES, when this permit is needed before shipping ), the Form A ( which is also normally the Certificate of Origin ), the AWB ( Air Way Bill ). If we had to prepay your transport we will email you after shipping ( that can takes a few days ) the Invoice of Transport, which is the amount on the AWB plus all local charges.

You can see samples of such documents below.

- Question : should we do a contract ?
So far none of our customers or ourselves have used contracts to solve problems that may happen, although some importers require a contract to comply with their customs' rules. We accept only contracts on a single page and of course they must match our conditions of sales on the top of our order form ( our plant list on excel ). Please note that we are not responsible for delays or damage after the plants are loaded on the plane : our prices are " free on board " FOB. However we remain liable if the plants are intercepted by our fault.

- Question : can I use my own database to send you my order ?
We receive orders only on the excel sheet that we sent you as our plant list. On this list you will have entered the quantities. The Thai names in the rightmost column must not be deleted, we need these names. ( you may see them as awkward characters on your screen )

- Question : can the names of my plants match the names in your documents ?
In order to make the many necessary documents , such as the phytosanitary certificate, and decrease the probability of errors from all involved partners, the number of names has to be limited as much as possible and they must be taken from an internet database of the Thai department of agriculture; for instance we will write "HOYA SPP" instead of listing 25 Hoya species.

- Question : can you write the full names of the plants on the labels ?
We will request a fee for this, or you can send us your own labels and we will tie them to the plants, otherwise we use codes of 3 letters. The codes and the corresponding plant names are listed alphabetically on Invoice and Packing list.

- Question : can you make a Certificate of Origin ?
Yes, issuing this certificate ( it is usually the form A ) requires that the plants be sent to the airport about one day in advance.

.................................................... Our Registration Certificate as a Controlled Plant Exporter under the Quarantine Act of the department of Agriculture :



.................................................... Plant Invoice : plant names are selected from a database on the internet the day that we ship : some names from our list have to be changed to match the database.


.................................................... Packing List : very cumbersome when the number of units per species is small. The cut below shows that this document would be almost useless or non feasible under 5 units per plant. The Volume Weight is the volume divided by 6000.


.................................................... Check List by our agent. If a document could not be done before loading on the plane, for instance the Form A, the original will be sent on a flight or by express courier.


.................................................... Phytosanitary Certificate


.................................................... Attached Sheet of the Phytosanitary Certifcate 1 of 5. The additional declaration is requested by the importer, by our agent or is under the decision of the agents of the Thai Dpt. of Agriculture.


.................................................... Attached Sheet of the Phytosanitary Certifcate 2 of 5


.................................................... Attached Sheet of the Phytosanitary Certifcate 3 of 5



.................................................... Form A ( Certificate of Origin )



.................................................... Air Way Bill ( AWB ). The phone number of the consignee must be on it


.................................................... Invoice of Transport : we get it after plants are sent. It includes all charges, Phto. certif., overtime, local charges etc.



Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

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