1. What the requirement covers
A licence for each export of goods in the restricted catalogue.
The licence states the goods, quantity, value, consignee and destination.
2. The fields that cause disputes
The destination country.
The consignee name and address.
The goods description, which must match the catalogue entry.
The quantity and the value.
3. The tension between confidentiality and specificity
A buyer who is a distributor reselling onward creates an intermediate consignee.
The licence names the immediate consignee.
4. The resale chain in figures
A licence names one consignee.
When the consignee resells, the goods pass through a party not on the licence.
5. The scenario
An exporter licensed a shipment to a distributor who had an affiliated buyer in a third country.
The goods were re-consigned.
The licence named the distributor, and the destination on the licence was the distributor’s country.
At the declaration, the discrepancy was noticed.
6. The lesson
A licence is destination-specific.
Resale changes the destination and requires a new licence.
7. The commercial consequence
Distributors have to be told this.
It changes how the export is structured: the distributor must be the destination, or the licence must name the end destination.
8. Closing view
The licence is the document that forces the trade to be described accurately.
That is its purpose.
*This article is based on China’s export licensing administration.*