Ivorian Customs Officials implemented a new requirement in 2005. It stated that a BSC must accompany all shipments to Ivory Coast. And in its absence, you’ll face severe consequences and enormous amounts of penalties. If Ivory Coast isn’t your final destination, in some cases, you are not obliged to have a BSC certificate. Click here to find out more on transit shipments. The BSC certificate is mandatory for all ports in Ivory Coast. Including Port of Abidjan, San Pedro etc.
The number of people who miss and overlook this certificate despite being mandatory and crucial would surprise you.
What is Ivory Coast BSC?
BSC stands for Bordereau de Suivi des Cargaisons, which translates to Electronic Cargo Tracking Note (ECTN) in English. The name itself is quite self-explanatory. The ECTN enables authorities to track, manage, and supervise all cargoes from loading to discharge, and it also provides detailed information about the shipments before they arrive at the destination port. This includes details about the exporter, the importer, information about the transported goods and their value, the cost of the freight, the type of shipment, the name of the vessel, and more.
What are the required documents?
Ivory Coast is very strict about the required documents. Please make sure all of them are correct and complete when applying for a BSC certificate.
- Bill of Lading: It contains details about the exporter, the importer, the weight of the goods, the shipping line, the vessel name, etc.
- Commercial Invoice: It contains the details of the goods, the freight cost, the incoterm, and some other charges if there is any, etc.
- Freight Invoice: This document is only necessary if the freight cost isn’t on the commercial invoice.
- Export Customs Declaration: Customs Officials of the exporter country prepares this document, and it lists the goods being transported and contains some important details of them.
- Packing List: This document contains all the details of the goods, especially the total weight.
- Certificate of Origin: It’s a document that declares the country the goods were manufactured in. It has information about the goods, the destination, and the origin of goods.
- Local Certificate of Insurance: This is a document that the importer has to get from Ivory Coast.
- FDI Document: This is also a document that has to be provided by the importer from Ivory Coast.
What are the consequences of not having this certificate?
You need to provide the validated certificate five days before the shipment at the latest. If not, your cargo won’t have an entry clearance; and will be sent back to the origin. And you’ll be facing a charge twice the amount of the BSC certificate plus $2500 per Bill of Lading.
Pricing
Certificate cost depends on the number of Bill of Ladings and the containers, the country of origin, the port of discharge, etc. This is why we can’t give you an exact price for the CTN. But if you share your shipment’s details with us we can provide you the best charges for your certificate. We offer free quotation.
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