
IMPORT PERMIT AND SONCAP CERTIFICATE LICENSE, VITAL DOCUMENTS THAT ASCERTAIN CONSIGNEE’S ELIGIBILITY TO IMPORT GOODS

To ascertain a consignee’s eligibility solely from an importation point of view, approval from the government is significantly paramount. In view of this, the issuance of an ‘import permit’ as a tool couldn’t be well described other than a viable option. Indeed, a legal document that stands as core backing for consignees that import certain goods into a country, either on a periodic or regular basis. While on the other hand, is the ‘SONCAP Certificate‘. The latter is also a different license that focuses on specific products (goods), yet issued to consignees as permission to import these sets of goods.
In order to take a close look in our area of interests, which implies where the subject licenses could be deployed, it will be fair to point at authorities that are core in this sphere of logistics. Meanwhile, the ‘import permit’ license is issued by the government authority to consignees, which in some cases, exempts or issue the same as covering to some consignees in order to import some specific products. For instance, Plant Quarantine which is a known government authority is responsible for the authorization of consignees who desire to import crops and plant seedlings into a country, in the same vein, a body like the State Secret Service (SSS) is also a body that oversees consignee’s eligibility to import explosive chemicals into a country. However, should a consignee desire to import goods classified as ‘sensitive goods’! Bodies like those mentioned earlier should be noted as the right authorities for their license approval.
As for the category of freight to be imported with these documents, we’re in no doubt convinced it practically cut across virtually all forms of freight importation irrespective of the volume, yet paving way for viable opportunities.
To understand how these documents are obtained, a recap of our previous post will be helpful.

Once you have obtained the license (import permit) from the authority, the next step is to proceed with the importation of the goods you wish to import. This could be done through a commercial bank, alternatively, you could fund the whole process.
Moving from there, contact a shipping company depending on the category freight importation. But if the consignee desire that the freight should be purely handled directly by a liner, then, volume is really a concern. Proceed with the company’s charges, and after you have done that, the bill of lading document for that shipment will be issued to the consignee. Alternatively, this process could be done by the seller of those goods, based on the nature of the deal.
In another dimension, if the consignee is importing the goods through a commercial bank or other financial institution, either on the basis of credit support or other processes, this implies that the bank will need to open a ‘FORM M’ for the importation of the goods. Also, will require the creation of a ‘pre-annual assessment report’ of the goods by the customs, owing to the fact that the whole process will go through the country’s central bank, going forward, customs would require the submission of the goods parking list, its commercial invoice with the FORM M data opened via the consignee’s commercial bank.
In order to wrap up properly and also to make sure the issue of importation license has been thoroughly trashed, we will dive into the SONCAP CERTIFICATE which is also a license required for the importation of goods, however, we will be brief on this. Meanwhile, it is a license issued by a body known as the Standard Organization of that country, which focuses on certain categories such as machinery, spares, and other equipment. Rhetorically, consignees importing on the basis of personal effects and diplomatic goods wouldn’t be needing this license.
I hope we can differentiate these legal documents (Import permit and SONCAP Certificate), precisely where they’re needed!
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