30.09.2019
Since autumn 2020, there has been a new version of the International Commercial Terms, known as Incoterms for short ("Incoterms 2020"), which will come into force next year. The changes had been announced for a long time. The last revisions were therefore made at intervals of 10 years (1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 and now 2020).
The Incoterms 2020 will have to be observed in the future. They help to regulate the obligations of the parties involved in sales contracts, but also in the transport business, without any doubt, in particular the transfer of risk and the distribution of tasks and costs. The principle that the Incoterms must be agreed on a case-by-case basis in order for them to be valid and to apply to the contractual relationship has remained unchanged. Of course, the contracting parties can also agree in the future that older versions of the Incoterms should apply to the contract. In general, however, this will not make sense, since the purpose of updating the Incoterms is precisely to adapt them to the current circumstances of international trade and the different types of transport.
The following Incoterms will apply according to the current rules from 2020:
EXW (EX WORKS) (named place)
FCA (FREE CARRIER) (named place)
CPT (CARRIAGE PAID TO) (named place of destination)
CIP (CARRIAGE AND INSURANCE PAID TO)
DAP (DELIVERED AT PLACE)
DPU (DELIVERED AT PLACE UNLOADED)
DPD (DELIVERED DUTY PAID)
FAS (FREE ALONGSIDE SHIP) (named port of shipment)
FOB (FREE ON BOARD) (named port of shipment)
CFR (COST AND FREIGHT) (named port of destination)
CIF (COST, INSURANCE AND FREIGHT) (named port of destination)
Among the changes to the clauses, the following changes are particularly significant:
The DAT (Delivered at Terminal) clause, as it was still mentioned in the Incoterms 2010, has become the “Delivered at Place Unloaded” (DPU) clause. Any agreed place can therefore be considered the place of destination.
Under the FCA clause (“Free Carrier”, named place), the contracting parties can agree that the buyer instructs his carrier to issue the seller with an on-board bill of lading. The handover of this on-board bill of lading to the buyer takes place with the cooperation of the banks involved.
In the insurance clauses (“CIF”, cost, insurance and freight, named port of destination and “CIP”, carriage paid and insured, named place of destination), the standard insurance requirement was converted into an “all-risk” cover.
The current version comes into force on January 1, 2020. The Incoterms, which regulate the obligations of the contracting parties, the bearing of costs and the allocation of risk, can significantly simplify contract documents. This principle will also be adhered to for the new version of the Incoterms, which have now been adapted to current business practice, as has been the case in previous decades. Of course, it should not be forgotten that the Incoterms do not regulate all contractual key points, and in particular payment terms, exclusions of liability, transfer of ownership, place of jurisdiction and applicable law, legal consequences of breaches of contract, etc. still have to be regulated separately in the contract, and ideally in the interests of each party.