What is a Shipper's Letter of Instruction Form?
 

A Shipper’s Letter of Instruction form serves multiple purposes: 

• Provide transportation and documentation instructions. 
  
• Provide export control and reporting information.
  
• Convey authorization to the forwarding agent to transmit Electronic Export Information (EEI) to the Automated Export System (AES).

Currently, many company’s forms do not allow for line item reporting of ECCN classification or license authorization information. Additionally, on April 5, 2014, the revised Foreign Trade Regulations will become effective adding the requirement to report two new fields: Ultimate Consignee Type and License Value. This is, therefore, an opportune time to review and modify your SLI form.

This new SLI model focuses on the fields required for reporting EEI in compliance with export control requirements. It allows for line item reporting of licensing information and the reporting of the new fields. The SLI model includes field by field comments with supporting regulatory requirements and citations and is accompanied by a separate “How to Complete the SLI” instruction document. This model does not include transportation and documentation instruction fields such as: prepaid/collect, insurance, INCOTERMS©, consent to screen, terms and conditions, etc., because they vary widely from forwarder to forwarder. You would add those fields as part of your customization. The authorization language is the minimum language in the regulation. NCBFAA recommends that you review this language and your final document with your legal counsel to ensure that it properly represents your internal policies.

Although NCBFAA recommends use of this general format, your customized version might vary based on your verbiage, supplementary information deemed necessary by your company, field numbering, and so on. The type of form you choose to use, such as fillable forms, PDF, on-line, could also impact design. In the end, the key is that your document should include all of the export compliance required fields included on the model. The model is password protected to prohibit accidental typing over field headings. The document can be unprotected using password “SLI”.