What the documents look like
General trade import declaration work centres on the import declaration form, commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, and contract. The commercial focus is duty-paid value, freight and insurance, and tax payment. Materials arrive from the International Trade Single Window, customs tariff schedules, forwarder arrival notices, and foreign exchange payment documents. This category differs from export declaration because the emphasis sits on duty-paid value, freight and insurance, and tax settlement.
In cross-border practice, one consignment can carry a Chinese declaration form alongside an English invoice and bill of lading. Retrieval therefore has to match across languages. The documented semantic search mode supports cross-language understanding, so a Chinese question can match an English knowledge point. That property has direct value for a knowledge base holding mixed-language material. Material updates per consignment, so knowledge base content moves with each shipment, and retrieval reflects what had an index at ingestion time.
Constraints at the retrieval step
The knowledge base search node can associate one or more knowledge bases that use the same vector model. Bases built on different vector models cannot be associated together. The practical step is to check the vector model identifier of each base, exclude those that do not match, and record what was actually observed. Retrieval searches the whole library. A collection is only a way to classify data and does not affect search results.
Search modes are semantic retrieval, full-text retrieval, and hybrid retrieval. Semantic retrieval relies on vector distance and suits natural-language questions and cross-language matching. Full-text retrieval relies on keyword hits and suits numbers, model designations, and proper nouns. Hybrid retrieval uses both and merges the two result sets through RRF. RRF is the fusion process for hybrid results, not a separate switch.
The citation cap is measured in tokens and controls how much content one search may cite. Minimum relevance is a 0-1 filter threshold that takes effect only in semantic retrieval or when result re-ranking is used. That threshold filters low-relevance results and does not perform permission, entity, or business-scope isolation. Retrieval itself is not authorization. Whether a retrieved result may support a business action requires separate confirmation downstream.
Image retrieval requires corresponding image input and model capability. Re-ranking requires a model and must be enabled by configuration. The optional paths shown in the overall flow diagram do not mean every request executes all of them.
Hypothetical paper exercise sample, entirely fictional and used only to check format and judgement logic:
An importer submits a handover record for filing. The source material reads: "The transaction terms for this consignment are CIF, and freight and insurance are already included in the invoice amount. The consignee named on the commercial invoice is the same entity as the notify party on the bill of lading. The contract states a delivery period of 60 days after receipt of the letter of credit." The draft sentence to be judged reads: "Freight and insurance for this consignment are already included in the duty-paid value, so declaration can proceed directly on the invoice amount with no separate check."
Configuration and implementation checks
| Configuration item | Starting value for this hypothetical exercise | Reason and comparison method |
|---|---|---|
| Associated knowledge bases | Associate only one base whose vector model identifier matches | Check each base's vector model identifier first, exclude non-matching bases, and record the actual observation |
| Search mode | Test semantic retrieval and full-text retrieval separately | Compare returned content for the same test question under both modes; do not assume one mode suits all material |
| Citation cap | Set one token value as a starting point | Test with material of different lengths to see whether cited content is complete, then adjust the value |
| Minimum relevance | Set one 0-1 value as a starting point | Label relevant and irrelevant samples first, then compare the filtering behaviour after threshold adjustment |
| Question optimisation | Leave off first and test with complete questions | Compare the original question with the optimised question and check whether the subject was altered |
| Result re-ranking | Leave disabled first | Confirm whether a re-ranking model exists and is enabled by configuration, then compare ordering behaviour |
Three common errors
- Treating a retrieval result as an authorization basis. A retrieval returns cited content, which shows only that related content exists in the knowledge base. It does not show that a business action has been approved. A pending-review state does not demonstrate that an operating permission is absent. Signing, reaching cooperation, and contract effectiveness are three distinct facts.
- Associating knowledge bases across vector models. Knowledge bases with different vector models cannot be associated together. Check the identifiers first and exclude non-matching bases. Do not run cross-model retrieval to compare missed recalls.
- Using minimum relevance for permission isolation. Relevance is a filter threshold and does not exclude unrelated businesses or unauthorized records. The retrieval scope is the target range to which access rights exist, and a missing scope should be recorded as an evidence gap.
How to verify the setup
- Enter the source material and draft sentence from the hypothetical sample above. Compare the draft phrase "already included in the duty-paid value" with the source phrase "already included in the invoice amount". The source states that freight and insurance are included in the invoice amount and does not state how the duty-paid value is composed. The draft claim of inclusion in the duty-paid value is unsupported, and the evidence gap must remain.
- Enter the contract delivery clause from the hypothetical sample. Compare "60 days after receipt of the letter of credit" with the declaration arrangement in the draft sentence. The two address different subjects and fields. They neither contradict each other nor support each other, so the judgement is pending verification.
- Use an explicit paper input of an empty array to check the downstream handling design, and observe whether the output chain completes when the cited content length is 0. Do not claim that a fictional rule search necessarily returns an empty array.
All judgements above are paper reasoning. Nothing was executed in a real system, and no actual business action occurred.