Twenty-four terms used between Chinese vehicle export and destination-market import — each with a one-line definition and a line on what it means for you.
Most of these terms are not difficult in themselves; the trouble is that they arrive at the moment you have to act on them. Each entry below gives a short definition and then the practical line — what the term changes about your shipment. They are grouped by where in the process they appear.
| OTTC | Vehicle type approval issued in Russia and recognised within the EAEU. | Without it a vehicle cannot be registered in Russia. It is a type-level approval rather than a per-unit document, which is why the exact model and configuration matter before you buy. |
| SBKTS | A per-vehicle safety conformity certificate used in Russia for individually imported units. | This is the document an individual import usually runs on. It is issued against a specific vehicle, so it cannot be arranged before the VIN is fixed. |
| TR CU 018/2011 | The EAEU technical regulation covering wheeled vehicles. | It is the legal basis under which OTTC and SBKTS exist. If a vehicle cannot meet it, no amount of local paperwork will fix that after arrival. |
| 3CV | The vehicle type certification required in Chile. | It is the gate for Chilean registration. The approval rests on certificates issued at origin, so a document gap here is expensive to close once the vehicle has landed. |
| Certificate of Conformity (COC) | A manufacturer's declaration that a unit meets a given standard or market specification. | Useful and often required, but it is not itself a destination approval. Check whether your market accepts a COC directly or requires its own certification on top of it. |
| EAC mark | The marking applied to products conforming to EAEU technical regulations. | It signals conformity; it does not replace the vehicle-level documents. A mark on the vehicle without the matching paperwork behind it does not clear customs. |
| FOB (Free On Board) | The seller delivers the goods on board the vessel at the named port; risk passes at that point. | You control and pay the freight, so you also see the real shipping cost. Useful when you have your own forwarder, and it keeps port-level charges visible instead of folding them into one number. |
| CIF | Cost, Insurance and Freight: the seller covers freight and insurance to the destination port. | Simpler to compare, but the freight inside a CIF price is a black box. Ask for the freight element separately if you intend to benchmark it. |
| CFR | Like CIF, but without the insurance obligation on the seller. | If you already insure your own shipments, CFR avoids paying twice for cover. |
| Letter of Credit (L/C) | A bank undertaking to pay against documents that comply with stated terms. | It protects both sides on a first transaction, but its power sits entirely in the document list. One mismatched document and the bank will not pay — which is why the L/C terms and the shipping documents have to be drafted together. |
| T/T (telegraphic transfer) | A straightforward bank transfer between buyer and seller. | Fast and inexpensive, but it gives the buyer no document-based protection. If you use T/T, the payment schedule and the release order carry the whole risk — fix them in the contract. |
| Export credit insurance | Insurance covering an exporter against buyer default or political risk. | It is what allows an exporter to accept payment terms beyond full prepayment. If you want deferred terms, this is the instrument standing behind them. |
| Certificate of Origin (CO) | A document certifying where the goods were produced. | It decides the duty rate under a trade agreement. Getting it wrong is not a paperwork exercise — it is a different duty figure. |
| Commercial invoice | The seller's invoice for the goods, used by customs to value them. | It must agree with the bill of lading and the certificate of origin. Disagreement among these three is the most common cause of a hold at destination. |
| Bill of Lading (B/L) | The carrier's document of title and receipt for the cargo. | Whoever holds it controls the goods. That is why the release sequence matters: documents and payment have to be choreographed rather than improvised. |
| Customs declaration | The formal statement to customs describing the goods being imported. | The declared model year and value here set the duty. Declaring them loosely to save time generally costs more later. |
| HS code | The internationally harmonised classification code for traded goods. | It determines the duty rate and whether any restriction applies. A vehicle classified under a neighbouring code can attract an entirely different regime. |
| Duty and VAT | The customs duty and value-added tax charged on import. | Usually the second-largest cost after the vehicle itself, and set by the destination rather than by the exporter. Build them into your landed cost from the outset. |
| Customs broker / clearing agent | A locally licensed intermediary who files the declaration at destination. | The right broker is the difference between a held vehicle and a released one. Choose by market experience rather than by the lowest fee. |
| ZOFRI | The free trade zone at Iquique in northern Chile. | Goods held inside it are treated differently from goods already entered into the wider market. If your customer base sits in or around that zone, the entry route is a commercial decision rather than a formality. |
| Model year vs first registration year | Two different starting points for counting a vehicle's age. | The single most common compliance trap. A vehicle can be compliant counted one way and rejected the other; confirm which basis the destination applies before you buy. |
| VIN | The 17-character vehicle identification number. | It is the key every other document refers back to. A VIN mismatch between documents cannot be argued away at the port. |
| Emission standard | The exhaust emission tier a vehicle meets. | Some markets gate registration on it independently of age, so it is worth checking alongside the age limit rather than afterwards. |
| Used-vehicle export licence | The China-side licence required to export a used vehicle. | It is the exporter's obligation, but worth confirming early, because it constrains when a used unit can realistically leave. |
Definitions are provided as operational guidance, not legal or tax advice. Terminology, certification regimes and duty treatment differ by destination and change over time — confirm the position that applies to your shipment with the destination authority, your clearing agent, or us.
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