Buyer questionAnswered from the China side
Import from China to Nigeria: SONCAP comes before shipment.
For SONCAP-regulated goods, certification comes before shipment. Keep three checks separate: the import documents your bank needs, the certificates covering the goods, and the seller and payee on your order. Ask who is responsible for each check before sending a deposit. Clearance alone does not confirm supplier identity or bank-account ownership.
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Settle the documents and payee before payment.
Resolve product approvals, import documents and the payee before sending a deposit. Any unresolved item can delay the shipment or put the payment at risk.
Decision now: confirm Form M status and complete required SONCAP certification before shipment, then confirm the Chinese seller's registered identity and resolve the payment beneficiary before the first transfer.
Confirm Form M and the product’s approval route
Form M is separate from buying foreign currency. For SON-regulated goods, SON requires the Product Certificate for Form M. Sterling Bank’s Form M FAQ describes the form as an import declaration for physical goods, regardless of value or whether payment is involved. That is the bank’s published guidance, not our verification of every current CBN rule. Ask your own authorised dealer bank to confirm the rules for your goods, Form M registration and any exception before shipment.
CBN launched a fourth edition of its Foreign Exchange Manual on 15 May 2026. We have not verified its full text. This guide uses SON’s published certificate requirements and the bank’s explanation of Form M; it does not state the manual’s validity periods or exemptions.
SONCAP product certificate (for regulated products). The Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme covers a published list of regulated products. If your goods fall on that list, an accredited inspection body in the country of export must issue a Product Certificate before shipment. The SONCAP Certificate must also be processed before the goods leave the country of origin; it supports PAAR and clearance. Products outside the regulated list do not need it, but clearing them still requires documentary proof that they are outside scope.
NAFDAC: registration and import permits are different routes. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has a product-registration service and separate permits for industrial and laboratory chemicals. Its chemical permit guides ask for specific chemical names matching the maker’s safety data sheet, HS codes and quantities. A product-registration document alone does not answer that permit checklist. Confirm the approval and clearance documents for your goods with NAFDAC.
Confirm each of these with your bank (Form M), SON (SONCAP), and NAFDAC respectively. The requirements are theirs to state, not ours. What we can tell you is that none of them says anything about whether the company at the other end of the transaction is real.
SONCAP: the exporter’s PC and importer’s SC have different roles
SON requires assessment of regulated goods before shipment. Testing, inspection and certification depend on the route. Do not assume that every certificate means an inspector visited the factory for your order.
SON’s FAQ distinguishes two documents. The Product Certificate (PC) is issued to the exporter for Form M. The SONCAP Certificate (SC) is issued to the importer for PAAR and clearance. Check which document you received, the product it covers and each party’s role. The pre-shipment rule means these cannot wait until arrival. These explanations were checked on 9 September 2026.
Issuing a certificate and activating it are separate steps. SON’s 2026 migration notice says its accredited partners still issue offshore Product and Shipment Certificates on the SON Portal. From 27 March 2026, activation for Form M, PAAR and clearance must take place on the National Single Window. Ask your agent to confirm activation for your shipment. Notice checked on 10 September 2026.
A factory may sell directly or supply through a trader. Different seller and maker names do not alone invalidate a certificate. Ask SON or the issuing body to confirm product and shipment coverage, then document each party’s role against the invoice and payment instructions.
The regulated product list changes. SON periodically adds and removes product categories. Whether your specific product is currently on the list is a question for SON or a compliance consultant, not for a general guide.
Duty, tariff classification and clearance: not our lane
Duty rates, levies and surcharges change by HS code and by gazette notice. Get your number from your clearing agent or the Nigeria Customs Service tariff schedule. A general guide cannot give it to you. This page explains how to compare the Chinese company record with your order documents. Ask your agent whether that work is included in its service.
Start with the applicable HS classification and current customs tariff. Ask your clearing agent to list each duty, tax, levy and fee separately in the landed-cost estimate, with the rule and date used. Do not treat an old list of charges as a current calculation.
Ask your clearing agent for a landed-cost estimate against the actual HS code, and treat the classification itself as a decision worth getting right early. The Nigeria Customs Service is the authority on classification, not a supplier's quotation. Confirm a supplier’s duty estimate against the current tariff and your product classification.
We do not clear customs, we do not quote freight, and we do not calculate duty.
The China-side check that is actually ours
The Nigeria-side approvals do not replace a check of the Chinese seller. Agree who will obtain and compare the company records and order documents.
A Chinese company exists in a state register under one exact Chinese name and one 18-character Unified Social Credit Code. The English name on an Alibaba storefront, a WhatsApp message or a proforma invoice is a trading style. An English name may return candidates from a commercial search. It does not confirm the Chinese legal entity. So the first question is mechanical: does the name and code they gave you resolve to a live registered entity? And is that entity registered for the activity you are buying?
Before payment, settle the beneficiary question: does the bank account you have been asked to pay belong to that same registered company. The beneficiary may be a different company, an individual, or an account in a third jurisdiction. None of that is automatically fraud. All of it has to be resolved before the wire, because a transfer recall or recovery is not guaranteed. Ask your bank about the available process.
A registry check gives you the source and query date of a company record. Comparing the names on your documents is a separate step, and we cannot confirm who owns a bank account. Ask your bank how to verify the beneficiary, and resolve any payee that differs before you transfer funds.
Resolve the beneficiary before sending money
The wire transfer. Recovery is not guaranteed. Compare the seller and payee before payment, and ask your bank about beneficiary checks and recall procedures.
If using a Letter of Credit (L/C), ask the issuing bank which documents and names its terms require. Do not assume that the payment arrangement verifies the factory or product quality.
If a supplier explains a beneficiary mismatch with urgency, a frozen account, a regulatory issue, a "temporary" alternative: treat the urgency itself as the reason to slow down.
What this page deliberately does not tell you
Which products are profitable to import. That is a market question about your channel and your margins, and anyone answering it from a distance is guessing.
Duty rates, freight quotes and transit times. Country-specific, date-specific, and better sourced from your clearing agent and forwarder this week than from any guide.
Whether the goods will be any good. A company record says nothing about product quality. Your evidence for the goods is an approved sample and an inspection against a written specification.
Whether a certificate is genuine. We verify the Chinese entity named on it against the Chinese public record. Confirming that a SONCAP Product Certificate is current and covers the product is a question for SON.
Before the transfer: compare four names and explain differences
Ask whether your clearing agent or forwarder checks supplier identity; do not assume that it is included in clearance. Who exactly am I paying, and is that the same party I contracted with? Put four names side by side, literally as written, before any deposit leaves:
| Name | Where it comes from | What to compare |
|---|---|---|
| Registered company | Business licence / registry record | The recorded name and code to match with the seller |
| Contract seller | Contract or proforma | The named seller and its role in the agreement |
| Invoice issuer | Commercial invoice | Who is presenting the claim for payment |
| Payee | Bank instruction | The stated beneficiary; confirm the account with your bank |
A mismatch is no proof of fraud. A factory and a trading company can play separate roles, and each role needs documents. In the saved 264-record study, 67 scopes lacked import-export wording (25.4%). That does not show an inability to export and does not explain where a buyer’s money goes. Put the seller, exporter and payee roles in writing before you pay.
Where Nigeria adds a layer. Keep the exporter on the PC, the importer on the SC and the maker’s product evidence distinct. Different names need a documented relationship. Ask SON or the issuing body whether the certificates cover the actual goods and shipment; a registry search cannot settle that.
Run the four-party comparison in your browser before you order any records. To confirm the registered identity behind one of those names, read how to search the Chinese registry, or check an 18-character code locally with the USCI check-digit tool.
Registry records change. On 8 August 2026, 145 of the 264 saved records had a change dated within the preceding 12 months (54.9%). An older report is not invalid for that reason alone. Recheck any detail that bears on the payment. We do not confirm bank-account ownership, clear customs or approve product compliance.
If you already have a supplier in front of you
Ask for a photograph of the business licence (营业执照) . It carries the exact registered Chinese name and the 18-character code. Check both against the public record, because the document you were sent is the thing being tested. Use the returned source and query date when comparing the record with your documents.
Open the free factory-or-trader check
The free tool reads pasted scope text in your browser. Live record lookup depends on the commercial source being available. Every line we deliver names its source and the date it was queried, and states what it cannot show. We verify records; we do not certify suppliers, and we are not a substitute for a clearing agent, a certification body or legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need a Form M to import from China to Nigeria?
- For SON-regulated goods, SON requires a Product Certificate for Form M. Sterling Bank’s published FAQ describes Form M as required for physical goods even when no payment is involved. Ask your own authorised dealer bank to confirm the current requirements, any exception and registration status before shipment.
- What is SONCAP and do I need it?
- SONCAP (Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme) is required for regulated products entering Nigeria. The process starts with a Product Certificate from an accredited inspection body in the country of export, obtained before shipment. The SONCAP Certificate must also be processed before the consignment leaves the country of origin; it supports PAAR and clearance. Products outside the regulated list do not need it. SON publishes the current list.
- How do I verify a Chinese supplier before paying?
- Ask for a photograph of the business licence (营业执照). It carries the registered Chinese name and an 18-character Unified Social Credit Code. Check the code structurally to catch copy errors, then look up the entity in the Chinese public registry. Compare the registered name with the name on your proforma invoice and the name on the bank account you have been asked to pay. A mismatch is not proof of fraud but is always something to resolve before the wire.
- Can I import from China to Nigeria on Alibaba?
- Finding a seller on Alibaba does not establish Nigerian import approval. Confirm the requirements for your goods, including Form M and SONCAP where applicable. Read the order’s seller, payment and platform-protection terms, and compare the Chinese company identity with the documents.
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Where each requirement is published
This page splits the work three ways, so the sources split the same way. The first group is where you confirm your own obligations. The second is what the China-side check rests on.
- Nigeria Customs ServiceThe tariff schedule and gazette notices that set duty by HS code. This page deliberately prints no rate; get yours here or from your clearing agent.
- Standards Organisation of NigeriaWhich product categories need SONCAP, and what the certificate must name.
- Sterling Bank: Form M FAQBank guidance read on 10 September 2026: what Form M declares and why no payment does not mean no form. Its portal and document details may predate the 2026 changes; use SON’s dated notice above for certificate activation and confirm the rest with your bank.
- CBN: Foreign Exchange Manual updateThe official announcement confirms the fourth edition launched on 15 May 2026. It does not supply the full rules. We do not treat the older 2020 rule book as proof of current exemptions or time limits.
- National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity SystemWhere the Chinese registered name, status and scope are published. This is the record the China-side check reads.
- State Council: Regulation on the Registration of Market EntitiesWhich items sit on that record, and what a change to any of them requires.
- NAFDAC application formsOfficial page and linked chemical permit PDFs read on 10 September 2026. The 2018 guide and guide in the 2023–2028 folder both list chemical names, safety data, HS codes and quantities. The latter prints an effective date of 15 November 2028 and review date of 16 November 2023. We have not treated it as already in force; confirm the applicable version with NAFDAC.
Access limits are dated beside the affected links. A failed request from our connection does not show whether a source will open for you. Read the current official requirements before shipment; indexed text does not replace a current document.
How we checked
The only counts on this page, 67 and 145 of 264 saved records, come from our linked studies dated 8 August 2026. The four-name table is a worksheet for comparing the registered company, the contract seller, the invoice issuer and the payee. The requirements come from the sources listed under where each requirement is published.
The Sterling Bank Form M guidance was read on 10 September 2026. It is the bank's published FAQ and no check of current CBN rules. The CBN announcement confirms that the fourth edition of the Foreign Exchange Manual launched on 15 May 2026. We have not verified its full text.
Being pushed to pay a deposit right now? The checks that matter before money moves explain what to compare yourself and which records can be ordered.
If you want these records pulled for your own supplier: the report menu lists the checks by situation, with packs from $26.55. First paid order: unhappy for any reason, tell us within 14 days of delivery and it is refunded in full.
Buying from a Chinese seller of record is a separate route, with its own terms.
For the price of the parcel itself, see what shipping from China costs, by country. Before the shipping and duty questions, the supplier will quote a minimum order quantity: what it means, why it is quoted, and what is actually negotiable.