Incoterms or International Commercial terms are a series of international sales with 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. The first version was introduced in 1936 and the present dates from 2000.
As of January 1, 2011 the eighth edition, Incoterms 2010,[1][2] have effect. The changes therein affect all of the five terms previously listed in section D, which are now obsolete and have been replaced with these three:
- DAT (Delivered at Terminal)
- DATDAP (Delivered at Place)
- DATDDP (Delivered Duty Paid)
The new terms apply to all modes of transport.
Contents
- 1 Group E ? Departure
- 2 Group F ? Main carriage unpaid
- 3 Group C ? Main carriage paid
- 4 Group D ? Arrival
- 5 Summary of terms
NOTE: The following information refers to Incoterms 2000 and is now replaced with different information in Incoterms 2010[3] For a given term, "Yes" indicates that the seller has the responsibility to provide the service included in the price. "No" indicates it is the buyer's responsibility.
If insurance is not included in the term (for example, CFR) then insurance for transport is the responsibility of the buyer or the seller depending on who owns the cargo at time of transport. In the case of CFR terms, it would be the buyer while in the case of CIF or CIP terms, it would be the seller.