The Incoterms were first published in 1936, since then they have been regularly updated to keep pace with the development of international trade. Amendments and additions were made in 1953, 1967, 1976, 1980, 1990 and presently in 2000.
In view of the changes made to Incoterms from time to time, it is important to ensure that where the parties intend to incorporate Incoterms into a contract of sale, an express reference be made to the current version of Incoterms. The absence of such reference may result in disputes as to whether the parties intended to incorporate as part of their contract that version or an earlier version.
The Incoterms become part of a sales contract if seller and buyer so agree by simple reference to one of the trade terms expressly stating that the contract should be interpreted according to a particular Incoterm, e. g. C.I.F. Incoterms 2000.
It should be noted that special provisions in individual contracts will override anything provided in Incoterms. Parties may adopt Incoterms as a general basis of a contract but may also specify variations or additions to fit a contract to a particular trade or to particular needs. In this context, it is important to bear in mind that Incoterms are premised on the seller’s minimum liability. In an individual contract, the buyer therefore may wish to increase the seller’s obligation.
It should also be kept in mind that reference to a particular Incoterm is not sufficient to determine the full legal relationship between parties to a contract of sale. Matters such as breach of contract and its consequences, as well as the difficult problem of ownership of goods, are outside the scope of the trade terms.
The scope of Incoterms is limited to matters relating to the rights and obligations of the parties to the contract of sale with respect to the delivery of goods sold. Their basic purpose is to explain how responsibility, cost and risk should be divided between the parties in connection with the delivery of goods from seller to buyer.
To establish this division, the point at which goods are considered delivered from seller to buyer under the respective terms must be indicated. Normally, at this point (the "critical point"), the obligation to arrange for further transport of goods and to assume further costs and risks is transferred from seller to buyer. Under some trade terms, the "critical points" for the transfer of costs and risks do not coincide.
There are two particular misconceptions about Incoterms:
they are frequently misunderstood as applying to a contract of carriage rather than to a contract of salethey are sometimes wrongly assumed to provide for all the obligations which parties may wish to include in a contract of sale.
These misconceptions are very common although the ICC has always stressed that Incoterms deal only with the relation between sellers and buyers under a contract of sale, and, moreover, only do so in some particular and very distinct respects.
Incoterms 2000
Incoterms 2000 bring the official ICC rules for the interpretation of the most commonly used trade terms in line with the current international trade practices:
recent spread of customs-free zonesincreased use of electronic communications in business transactionschanges in transport techniques.
In their 2000 revised version, Incoterms concentrate on the thirteen most important trade terms and offer a simpler and clearer presentation of them. The use of different expressions to convey the same meaning has been avoided. Moreover, whenever possible, the same expressions as appear in the 1980 Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods have been used.
