Introduction
Incoterms or international commerce terms are a series of international sales terms, published by International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and widely used in international commercial transactions. These are accepted by governments, legal authorities and practitioners worldwide for the interpretation of most commonly used terms in international trade. This reduces or removes altogether uncertainties arising from different interpretation of such terms in different countries. Scope of this is limited to matters relating to rights and obligations of the parties to the contract of sale with respect to the delivery of goods sold. They are used to divide transaction costs and responsibilities between buyer and seller and reflect state-of-the-art transportation practices. They closely correspond to the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
As of January 1, 2011 the eighth edition, Incoterms 2010, come into force.The changes therein affect that all of the five terms in section D are obsolete and replaced with these three: DAT (Delivered at Terminal), DAP (Delivered at Place), and DDP (Delivered Duty Paid). The new terms apply to all modes of transport.
Summarised below are the principal changes to the 2000 version.
Reclassification of Rules
The new Rules have been separated into two classes: (i) Rules for use in relation to any mode or modes of transport, which can be used where there is no maritime transport at all or where maritime transport is used for only part of the carriage and (ii) Rules for sea and inland waterway transport, where the point of delivery and the place to which the goods are carried to the buyer are both ports.
FAS, FOB, CFR and CIF belong to the second class of Rules. In respect of FOB, CFR and CIF, reference to the “ship’s rail” has now been deleted and this has been replaced with the goods being delivered when they are “on board” the vessel.
Rules apply to domestic as well as international trade
The Incoterms have traditionally been used for international sale contracts even though some trade blocs, such as the European Union, have minimised the signifi cance of border formalities. The new Rules now recognise that they can also be used for domestic sale contracts and reference is made in a number of the Rules that export and import formalities will only need to be complied with where applicable. It is anticipated that this change may encourage greater use of the Rules in the USA in place of the former US Uniform Commercial Code.
Two new terms replace four current terms
Incoterms 2000 contained 13 Rules, which have been reduced to 11 terms in Incoterms 2010. This has been achieved by introducing two new Rules to replace fi ve current Rules. The two new Rules may be used irrespective of the mode of transport selected and under both new Rules, delivery takes place at a named destination. In essence, the “D” (Delivered) terms under the 2000 Rules have been consolidated to reduce the number of terms that were considered to have little real difference between them.
DAT (Delivered at Terminal) replaces DEQ (Delivered ex Quay). DAT may be used irrespective of the mode of transport selected and may also be used where more than one mode of transport is employed.”Delivered at Terminal” means that the seller delivers when the goods, having been unloaded from the arriving means of transport, are placed at the buyer’s disposal at a named terminal at the named port or place of destination. DAT requires the seller to clear the goods for export where applicable but the seller has no obligation to clear the goods for import, pay any import duty or carry out any import customs formalities. It was considered that DAT would prove more useful than DEQ in the case of containers that might be unloaded and then loaded into a container stack at the terminal, awaiting shipment. There was previously no term clearly dealing with containers that were not at the buyer’s premises.
DAP (Delivered at Place) replaces DAF, DES, DEQ and DDU. The arriving “vehicle” under DAP could be a ship and the named place of destination could be a port. Consequently, the ICC considered that DAP could safely be used instead of DES and that it would make the Rules more “user-friendly” if they abolished terms that were fundamentally the same. Again, a seller under DAP bears all the costs (other than any import clearance costs) and risks involved in bringing the goods to the named destination.
String sales
Commodities are often sold several times over during transit through a string of sale contracts. There will therefore be more than one seller and only the fi rst seller will have been responsible for shipping the goods. The new Rules have been amended to refl ect this. For example, CIF and CFR now refer to an obligation to “contract or procure a contract for the carriage of the goods.”.
Terminal handling charges
Under certain Incoterms 2000 Rules (e.g. CIF/CFR), the buyer potentially faced paying for the same service twice. The seller was including freight costs as part of the sale price, yet the buyer was sometimes expected by the carrier or terminal operator to pay the costs of handling and moving the goods within the port or container terminal facilities. Incoterms 2010 seek to avoid this potential double exposure by clearly allocating such costs under the relevant Rules.
Insurance cover and security related clearances
The new Rules take into account the 2009 revision of the Institute Cargo Clauses and expressly provide for information duties relating to insurance. They also allocate obligations between the buyer and seller in respect of obtaining or assisting in obtaining security-related clearances for the goods in question.
Electronic communication
The previous Rules provided for the use of Electronic data interchange (EDI) messages, where the parties had agreed to use them. Given the evolution of new electronic procedures and the likelihood that such procedures will continue to evolve, Incoterms 2010 provide instead for the use of paper communications or “equivalent electronic record or procedure” where agreed or customary.
LIST OF INCO TERMS( EFFECTIVE 1ST January 2011) & THEIR MEANING
Group E – Departure
EXW – Ex Works (named place)
The seller makes the goods available at his premises. The buyer is responsible for all charges. This trade term places the greatest responsibility on the buyer and minimum obligations on the seller. The Ex Works term is often used when making an initial quotation for the sale of goods without any costs included.
EXW means that a seller has the goods ready for collection at his premises (Works, factory, warehouse, plant) on the date agreed upon.
The buyer pays all transportation costs and also bears the risks for bringing the goods to their final destination.
Group F – Main carriage unpaid
EXW – Ex Works (named place)
The seller makes the goods available at his premises. The buyer is responsible for all charges. This trade term places the greatest responsibility on the buyer and minimum obligations on the seller. The Ex Works term is often used when making an initial quotation for the sale of goods without any costs included.
EXW means that a seller has the goods ready for collection at his premises (Works, factory, warehouse, plant) on the date agreed upon.
The buyer pays all transportation costs and also bears the risks for bringing the goods to their final destination.
FCA – Free Carrier (named places)
The seller hands over the goods, cleared for export, into the custody of the first carrier (named by the buyer) at the named place. This term is suitable for all modes of transport, including carriage by air, rail, road, and containerised / multi-modal sea transport. This is the correct “freight collect” term to use for sea shipments in containers, whether LCL (less than container load) or FCL (full container load).
FAS – Free Alongside Ship (named loading port)
The seller must place the goods alongside the ship at the named port. The seller must clear the goods for export. Suitable only for maritime transport only but NOT for multimodal sea transport in containers (see Incoterms 2010, ICC publication 715). This term is typically used for heavy-lift or bulk cargo.
FOB – Free on board (named loading port)
The seller must themself load the goods on board the ship nominated by the buyer, cost and risk being divided at ship’s rail. The seller must clear the goods for export. Maritime transport only but NOT for multimodal sea transport in containers (see Incoterms 2010, ICC publication 715). The buyer must instruct the seller the details of the vessel and port where the goods are to be loaded, and there is no reference to, or provision for, the use of a carrier or forwarder. It DOES NOT include Air transport. This term has been greatly misused over the last three decades ever since Incoterms 1980 explained that FCA should be used for container shipments. … …….
Group C – Main carriage paid
CFR or CNF – Cost and Freight (named destination port)
Seller must pay the costs and freight to bring the goods to the port of destination. However, risk is transferred to the buyer once the goods have crossed the ship’s rail. Maritime transport only and Insurance for the goods is NOT included. Insurance is at the Cost of the Buyer.
CIF – Cost, Insurance and Freight (named destination port)
Exactly the same as CFR except that the seller must in addition procure and pay for insurance for the buyer. Maritime transport only.
CPT – Carriage Paid To (named place of destination)
The general/containerised/multimodal equivalent of CFR. The seller pays for carriage to the named point of destination, but risk passes when the goods are handed over to the first carrier.
CIP – Carriage and Insurance Paid (To) (named place of destination)
The containerised transport/multimodal equivalent of CIF. Seller pays for carriage and insurance to the named destination point, but risk passes when the goods are handed over to the first carrier.
Group D – Arrival
DAT- Delivered At Terminal
DAT may be used irrespective of the mode of transport selected and may also be used where more than one mode of transport is employed. “Delivered at Terminal” means that the seller delivers when the goods, having been unloaded from the arriving means of transport, are placed at the buyer’s disposal at a named terminal at the named port or place of destination. DAT requires the seller to clear the goods for export where applicable but the seller has no obligation to clear the goods for import, pay any import duty or carry out any import customs formalities. It was considered that DAT would prove more useful than DEQ in the case of containers that might be unloaded and then loaded into a container stack at the terminal, awaiting shipment. There was previously no term clearly dealing with containers that were not at the buyer’s premises.
DAP- Delivered At Place
DAP (Delivered at Place) replaces DAF, DES, DEQ and DDU. The arriving “vehicle” under DAP could be a ship and the named place of destination could be a port. Consequently, the ICC considered that DAP could safely be used instead of DES and that it would make the Rules more “user-friendly” if they abolished terms that were fundamentally the same. Again, a seller under DAP bears all the costs (other than any import clearance costs) and risks involved in bringing the goods to the named destination.
DDP– Delivered Duty Paid (named destination place)
This term means that the seller pays for all transportation costs and bears all risk until the goods have been delivered and pays the duty. Also used interchangeably with the term “Free Domicile”. The most comprehensive term for the buyer. In most of the importing countries, taxes such as (but not limited to) VAT and excises should not be considered prepaid being handled as a “refundable” tax. Therefore VAT and excises usually are not representing a direct cost for the importer since they will be recovered against the sales on the local (domestic) market