The paperwork that should exist before your shipment leaves.
Every stage of an international supply order produces a document, and each one exists because somebody once lost money without it. This is the chain, in the order it happens, and what each piece is actually for.
Six steps, each closing the one before it.
A requirement becomes a priced offer, the offer becomes an approved product, the approved product becomes an inspection plan, the plan produces certificates and reports, and the reports release the goods. Skip a step and the next one has nothing to check against.
Most disputes are not arguments about quality. They are arguments about what was agreed, which is why the early documents matter more than they look.
- Bill of quantities or RFQ: what is needed, in quantities that can be priced.
- Technical submittal: the exact product proposed, with datasheets and drawings, for approval.
- Inspection and test plan: what will be checked, when, by whom, against which criteria.
- Material certificates: evidence tied to the batch actually supplied.
- Pre-shipment inspection: an independent look before the goods leave.
- Release and handover: packing lists, labels and export documents for the supplied scope.
One of these stops the job. The other does not.
An inspection and test plan sequences what gets checked and by whom. Within it, a hold point stops work until somebody signs it off, and a witness point notifies you so you can attend without halting production if you cannot.
The distinction sounds procedural until a factory pours, welds or coats past a stage you intended to see. Naming which points are holds, in writing, before production starts, is the whole value of the document.
- Hold point: work stops until released. Use these where a defect becomes invisible or unfixable afterwards.
- Witness point: you are notified and may attend. Work continues either way.
- Review point: documents are checked rather than the goods themselves.
- Every point needs an acceptance criterion, or the sign-off means nothing.
- ITPs align with ISO 9001 practice and carry contractual weight under FIDIC-style contracts at handover.
Generic paper is not evidence.
For metals, EN 10204 sets the certificate types. A 3.1 certificate is issued by the manufacturer's own inspectors, independent of production, against the specific batch. A 3.2 certificate adds an independent third party or your representative. Where Chinese national standards apply instead, mill certification is issued against GB or GB/T, and the grade needs checking against what your specification actually calls for.
The test that matters is simple: does the document name the heat, batch or production run that is in your container? A certificate for a different batch of the same product proves nothing about yours.
| What | Typical position |
|---|---|
| Legal basis | Mandatory in several destination markets under the WTO Agreement on Pre-Shipment Inspection |
| Destination programmes | PVoC, SASO and SALEEM, KUCAS, SONCAP, CoC, SNI, among others |
| Common agencies | SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, Cotecna, TUV |
| Indicative cost | Roughly 0.45 to 0.85 percent of FOB value, with minimums around USD 250 to 300 |
| Certificate turnaround | Commonly 3 to 7 business days |
| Cost of skipping it | Port blockage, fines, seizure, or demurrage often quoted at USD 100 to 300 per day |
Programme names, approved agencies and fee bands change, and they differ by destination and product. The ranges here are indicative of current practice rather than a quotation. We confirm what applies to your destination and product at the time we price the order.
Three looks, scaled to what the order can cost you.
Standard practice on China-origin orders is a pre-production check that the right materials and components are staged, a during-production check once enough units exist to be representative, and a container loading check that what was approved is what actually goes in.
Not every order earns all three. A commodity item with a forgiving tolerance does not need the same attention as a fabricated structural package. Deciding that deliberately, rather than by habit or by budget, is the point.