A Cheat Sheet of Common Exporting Acronyms

Have you ever had to file your EEI with AES and forgotten your ECCN? Or attempted to complete your export paperwork and realized BIS classified your item as EAR99 and you can ship under NLR? Or does this sound like Greek to you?

Exporters have a language all our own—from common terms we see and use everyday to acronyms we may have to look up to remind ourselves of. Chances are you use many of these acronyms everyday, but there may be some you forget from time to time. (I know I do!)

That’s why I thought it would be helpful to compile several dozen of the most common exporting acronyms (sorted alphabetically) into a cheat sheet that translates these terms for me. How many are you familiar with?

• 3PL: Third-Party Logistics
• ACE: Automated Commercial Environment
• AES: Automated Export System
• ALADI: The Latin American Integration Association
• AT: Anti-Terrorism
• ATDNSHINC: Any Time, Day or Night, Sundays and Holidays Included
• AUSFTA: Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement
• AWB: Air Waybill
• BIS: Bureau of Industry and Security
• BOL (or B/L): Bill of Lading
• CAFTA/CAFTA-DR: Central America and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement
• CARICOM: Caribbean Common Market
• CBP: Customs & Border Protection
• CC: Crime Control
• CCI: Canada Customs Invoice
• CCL: Commerce Control List
• CFR: Code of Federal Regulations
• CL: Carload or Containerload
• CoC: Certificate of Conformity
• COD: Cash On Delivery
• COO: Certificate of Origin
• CTPA: United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement
• C-TPAT: Customs-Trade Parnership Against Terrorism
• CUSMA: Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (see also, USMCA)
• DDTC: Directorate of Defense Trade Controls
• DEC: District Export Council
• DGR: Dangerous Goods Regulations
• DHS: Department of Homeland Security
• DOT: Department of Transportation
• DPS: Denied Party Screening
• EAR: Export Administration Regulations
• EAR99: Items that fall under the jurisdiction of the EAR but are not found on the Commerce Control List (CCL)
• ECCN: Export Control Classification Number
• eCO: Electronic Certificate of Origin
• EEI: Electronic Export Information
• ECP: Export Compliance Program
• ETA, ETC, ETD, ETR, ETS: Estimated Time of arrival, completion, departure, readiness or sailing.
• EX-IM: Export-Import Bank of the United States
• FAK: Freight of All Kinds
• FEU: Forty-Foot Equivalent Unit (container)
• FMC: Federal Maritime Commission
• FPPI: Foreign Principal Party in Interest
• FTA: Free Trade Agreement
• FTL: Full Truckload
• FTR: Foreign Trade Regulations
• FTZ: Foreign Trade Zone or Free Trade Zone
• GATT: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
• GSP: Generalized System of Preferences
• HMF: Harbor Maintenance Fee
• HS: Harmonized System
• HTS: Harmonized Tariff Schedule
• IATA: International Air Transport Association
• ICC: International Chamber of Commerce
• ICE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• IEEPA: International Emergency Economic Powers Act
• IMDG: International Maritime Dangerous Goods
• IMO: International Maritime Organization
• Incoterms:

1. EXW (Ex Works)
2. FCA (Free Carrier)
3. CPT (Carriage Paid To)
4. CIP (Carriage and Insurance Paid To)
5. DAP (Delivered at Place)
6. DPU (Delivered at Place Unloaded)
7. DDP (Delivered Duty Paid)
8. FAS (Free Alongside Ship)
9. FOB (Free on Board)
10. CFR (Cost and Freight)
11. CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight)

• IFM: Inward Foreign Manifest
• ISPM 15: International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15
• ITAR: International Traffic in Arms Regulations
• ITN: Internal Transaction Number
• JIT: Just In Time
• KORUS: U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement
• L/C: Letter of Credit
• LCL: Less-Than-Containerload
• LTL: Less-Than-Truckload
• LV: Low Value
• MFN: Most Favored Nation
• MPF: Merchandise Processing Fee
• NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement (replaced by the USMCA)
• NCBFAA: National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America
• NLR: No License Required
• NVOCC: Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier
• NS: National Security
• OEE: Office of Export Enforcement
• OFAC: Office of Foreign Assets Control at the U.S. Treasury Department
• POD: Port of Discharge or Port of Destination or Proof of Delivery
• POL: Port of Loading
• PPI: See FPPI and USPPI
• PTPA: United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement
• RPS: Restricted Party Screening
• SBA: Small Business Administration
• SBDC: Small Business Development Centers
• SCAC: Standard Carrier Alpha Codes
• SDN: Specially Designated National
• SED: Shipper’s Export Declaration
• SLI: Shipper’s Letter of Instruction
• SNAP-R: Simplified Network Application Process—Redesign
• SOLAS: Safety of Life at Seas
• STA: Strategic Trade Authorization
• STC: Said To Contain
• STW: Said To Weigh
• TEU: Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (container)
• TL: Trailer Load
• T-MEC: Tratado entre Mexico, Estados Unidos y Canada (see also, USMCA)
• TMP: Temporary Imports, Exports, Re-exports, and Transfers In-Country Export License Exception
• TPP: Trans-Pacific Partnership
• UCP 600: Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits
• USEAC: United States Export Assistance Center
• USMCA: United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement
• USML: United States Munitions List
• USPPI: United States Principal Party in Interest
• VAT: Value-Added Tax
• WCO: World Customs Organization
• WTO: World Trade Organization

Bookmark this list and use it when you just can’t recall the difference between FTA, FTR and FTZ.

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This article was first published in March 2016 and has been updated to include current information, links and formatting.