When sending a shipment outside the EU with e.g. PostNord or DHL Express, you will be prompted to fill out information for the pro forma invoice electronically during the creation of your shipment. 

Customs agent in the receiver country needs the pro forma invoice in order to be able to verify the value of the shipment in question.

The information you enter is transferred electronically to the carrier. At the same time you are required to attach a certain number of copies (depending on the receiver country) of the pro forma invoice on the outside of your parcel/shipment.

The following information must be filled out for each product category the shipment contains.

Choose which category your items belong to.

If you choose Sales of goods or Other, a sales invoice needed for your shipment will be created.

If you choose any other option, a pro forma invoice will be created, so you need to make sure you select the correct category for your items so that the right documents are generated for you automatically.

Quantity of the unique products in the shipment.

An ISO country code for the country of origin of the product you are shipping must be filled in. If the item is produced in e.g. China, the country code "CN" should be used.

You can find a list of ISO country codes SKAT's website: https://info.skat.dk/data.aspx?oid=2178368.

Description of product(s) in English e.g. "Shoes".

Commodity code is the classification code of your product in relation to Intrastat. Intrastat is an entity that registers import/export between countries.

The commodity code must be entered without spaces and other characters, just digits.

In addition, the commodity code must contain either 8, 10 or 12 digits. If your commodity code has e.g. 7 digits, you have to add a 0 at the end so it has 8 digits.

If you do not know the commodity code for the product you are shipping, you can ask your supplier for it. If this is not possible, then you are expected to classify the product to the best of your ability. You can try finding the right commodity code on SKAT's website: http://vita.toldskat.dk/vita.htm.

The weight per item in grams.

Sales value (customer's purchase price) per item, should be stated without decimals.

The above information is transmitted electronically to the carrier.

Depending on the receiver country and carrier, it may be necessary for you to attach a certain number of copies of the proforma/commercial invoice on the outside of your shipment as well.

Your proforma/commercial invoice will be printed automatically alongside your shipping label in case the carrier requires one.

Different carriers have different requirements for handling customs documents. Read on to find info on how to prepare the shipment for the selected carrier:

If you ship with PostNord Denmark, make sure to read this guide before you start booking shipments outside the EU.

Ensure to print and attach 3 copies of the proforma/commercial invoice in a plastic pouch on the outside of the shipment.

For more information please contact the carrier directly.

For some receiver countries DHL Express supports Paperless Trade (electronic exchange of customs information). If a receiver country supports Paperless Trade, the text "C-PLT" will appear on your shipping label. In this case you do not need to enclose physical customs documents on the outside of your shipment.

If there, on the other hand, is no "C-PLT" on the shipping label, be sure to print and enclose 3 copies of the proforma/commercial invoice in a plastic pocket, on the outside of the shipment.

Example of a label where Paperless Trade is supported:

Tags: tariff, customs, pro forma, proforma, commodity code