Trade Documents are an Ancient Tradition
International trade documents are nearly as old as civilization itself. Scientists excavating the ruins of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur discovered that traders from this prosperous center of the fertile Tigris and Euphrates basin were regularly exchanging food and woven baskets for utensils made of copper, precious stones and spices with the seaport trading center of Dilmun and other parts of the ancient world. They also found thousands of 5000-year-old clay tablets where scribes recorded cuneiform versions of invoices, bills of lading, receipts for duty/tariff payments and even government-backed letters of credit. The players in these ancient transactions are very familiar:
•An importer (buyer) in Ur who wants 100 copper kettles.
•An exporter (seller) in Dilmun who is willing to trade 100 kettles for 500 woven baskets.
•An international shipping company willing to transport 500 baskets to Dilmun and 100 kettles back to Ur for a hefty fee (20 kettles or 100 baskets).
•The exporting customs officer (tax man) charging a duty (5 kettles or 25 baskets) for any goods shipped out of Dilmun.
•The importing customs officer (tax man) charging a duty (5 kettles or 25 baskets) for any goods shipped into Ur for resale.
The clay records reveal that it only took a few hundred years for additional parties to be added to the transaction. Sumerian coins, originally made from sea shells, began to be made from copper and silver and this enabled their use in international trade.
•With coins came bankers and soon, special clay “envelopes” were made to protect the clay banking documents which accompanied a shipment.
•To offer protection against loss, insurance companies began to divide a shipment among several different vessels. Clay “insurance policies” record these transactions.
•Since Sumeria was a region based upon law, attorneys became involved devising international sales contracts and recorded these on clay tablets.
Today, the number of individuals, organizations and entities involved in international trade has grown somewhat more complex. But, just as in Sumerian times, each party still issues or processes documents related to the particular role they play in the transaction.
Gil originally wrote this section from a Short Course In International Trade Documentation to start off a chapter introducing the parties in a trade transaction. World Trade Press publisher/author Ed Hinkleman chose instead to have this piece serve as the introduction to the whole book.
