Guides · Documents
What has to be in the file before we can declare it.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
A standard sea import needs four documents before we can file: the commercial invoice, the packing list, the bill of lading, and the letter of credit or contract behind the payment. You also need to be registered as a trader — an NTN, a sales tax registration where it applies, and enrolment on the Pakistan Single Window — because Pakistan does not issue a general import licence to clear goods against. Regulated goods add an approval from whichever department controls them, on top of that standing set.
The standing set, before anything else
Four documents get a file started, and they come from three different places. The commercial invoice and the packing list come from your supplier. The bill of lading or the airway bill comes from whoever carried the goods. The letter of credit or the sale contract comes from your bank, or from the agreement itself.
Send them to us as soon as your supplier issues them, not when the vessel berths. Most of the classification and valuation work can be finished before the ship arrives, and a file that starts early is not waiting on us later.
What the file needs, and who issues it
| Document | What it shows | Who issues it |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial invoice | The value, the terms of sale and the description of the goods | Your supplier |
| Packing list | What is in each carton or pallet, with weights and marks | Your supplier |
| Bill of lading or airway bill | Title to the cargo and proof it shipped | The shipping line or the airline |
| Letter of credit or sale contract | The terms the payment was made on | Your bank, or the agreement itself |
| Certificate of origin | Where the goods were made, where a preferential rate is being claimed | A chamber of commerce in the exporting country |
| Insurance certificate | Cover on the cargo, where it was insured | The insurer |
Registered as a trader, not licensed as an importer
Pakistan does not issue a general licence to import goods. What it requires is registration: a National Tax Number, a sales tax registration where your business needs one, and enrolment as a trader on the Pakistan Single Window before a declaration can be filed against your name.
The declaration itself is filed on the Pakistan Single Window, which is the interface a trader deals with. WeBOC is still the customs system operating underneath it, and the two get talked about as if they were the same thing. They are not, and what matters to you is the one you actually see: PSW.
What a regulated import adds
| Category | What it needs beyond the standing set | Comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Pharmaceuticals and chemicals | A regulatory approval specific to the item | The regulator concerned |
| Plant and agricultural material | A phytosanitary or quarantine clearance | The department concerned |
| Used or reconditioned machinery | Evidence supporting any concession claimed on it | Compiled before filing, not after |
| Solar and electrical equipment | Standards or type-approval documentation where it applies | The regulator concerned |
A document that reaches us after the vessel has already berthed is not on time, whatever the courier receipt says. We can settle the classification and the value in a day once the invoice and packing list are in front of us. We cannot get back the days a supplier sat on an invoice before sending it.
Where a file actually stalls on documents
Almost never on the bill of lading. Almost always on one of two things: a packing list whose weight does not match what the terminal records at discharge, or an invoice whose value does not sit near what customs is seeing on comparable goods. Both are questions we would rather answer before the declaration goes in than after a query is raised on it.
A letter of credit that does not describe the goods the way the invoice does is the other common one. Banks and suppliers draft those independently, and nobody checks that the wording agrees until the file is already in front of an appraiser.
Questions
What importers ask about the paperwork
Contact
Tell us what is coming.
Give us the product, the port and roughly when the vessel is due, and we will tell you what the clearance involves and what it will cost.