Export Administration

Company A, which has not previously been involved in exporting, has been hard at work doing research on the export administration process. Management has decided on a direct market entry strategy, with the result that the exporting company will be responsible for all export administration. There is no-one currently in the company, however, with the skills required to correctly classify goods or organise their transport to the foreign destination.

Export administration is full of processes and procedures, many of which require specific documentation. Although many processes may be facilitated by a middleman, such as a forwarding and clearing agent, the liability for performance under the sales contract, including the acquisition or completion of associated documents, will remain with your company.

As an aspiring exporter you may consider your company and products to be export ready. You may have done sufficient market and marketing research to identify your target markets and select your marketing mix for each market, and you may even have started receiving inquiries. To keep the ball rolling, you now need to become acquainted with the essentials of export administration.

Export administration as a topic has a lot of ‘moving parts’, from the various regulatory bodies to every middleman and facilitator in between. In order to ensure you are on the right track, it is essential to understand every role player and process involved.