A Shipper’s Letter of Instruction form serves multiple purposes:
- Provide transportation and documentation instructions.
- Provide EEI filing data elements, including export control export authority information.
- Convey authorization to the forwarding agent to file Electronic Export Information (EEI) in the Automated Export System (AES).
This SLI model focuses on the fields required for reporting EEI in compliance with export regulatory, including control, requirements. It allows for commodity line-item reporting of licensing authority (license exception/exemption, NLR, or specific license), ECCN (when applicable), and other line-item specific data elements. The SLI model includes field by field comments with supporting regulatory citations and is accompanied by a separate “How to Complete the SLI” instruction document. This model does not include individual transportation and documentation instruction fields for prepaid/collect, insurance, INCOTERMS©, terms and conditions, etc., because they vary widely from forwarder to forwarder. These fields may be added as part of a company’s customization of the SLI form. The authorization language on the form is the minimum language in the regulation. NCBFAA recommends that each company reviews this language and the final document with their legal counsel to ensure that it properly represents their internal policies.
Although NCBFAA recommends use of this general format, a company’s customized version might vary based on their verbiage, supplementary information deemed necessary -, field numbering, and so on. The type of format selected by a company, such as fillable forms, PDF, web-based, could also impact design. In the end, the key is that the SLI document should include all 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”.
