International Trade Law News

Frank Reynolds, the U.S. Delegate to the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) Incoterms Committee, has provided International Trade Law News with another update on the status of the revisions currently underway to Incoterms 2000, the standardized trade terms commonly used in international sales contracts.

Mr. Reynolds has advised that the ICC Incoterms Committee's third proposed draft of Incoterms 2010 led to 51 single spaced pages of comments from 23 countries. Those comments were reviewed and the fourth proposed draft was completed in late March. The fourth draft will be submitted to the ICC's Commercial Law and Practice (CLP) Commission in May, the first step in the approval process.

If the draft proposal makes it through the CLP, it will continue through the approval process to the ICC’s Executive Board which is scheduled to meet in September 2010. If all goes well, Incoterms 2010 will be released shortly thereafter with an anticipated effective date of January 1, 2011. If the new version is not approved, it will be sent back to the drafting committee for further work.

As previously reported, the new version of Incoterms will be entitled “Incoterms 2010”, reflecting the release date rather than the date they come into force.

The ICC introduced the first version of Incoterms, short for "International Commercial Terms," in 1936. There are currently 13 Incoterms. Incoterms have been revised six times in order to reflect international trade developments.

Frank Reynolds is the author of several publications, including Incoterms for Americans, a useful publication for U.S. exporters and importers, which will be revised following the publication of Incoterms 2010.

Labels: Incoterms

Frank Reynolds, the U.S. Delegate to the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) Incoterms committee, has provided International Trade Law News with an update on the status of the revisions currently underway to Incoterms 2000, the standardized trade terms commonly used in international sales contracts.

After receiving a large number of comments from the ICC National Committees, the Incoterms Drafting Group recently completed a third draft of the revised version of Incoterms. After comments on the third draft are submitted by the ICC National Committees, the Drafting Group will meet in March 2010 to prepare a fourth version of the draft revisions to Incoterms.

At this time, it remains the ICC’s goal to release the final version of Incoterms in the fall of 2010 with an effective date of January 1, 2011 (this date is subject to change).

In a change from previous reports, it appears that the new version of Incoterms will be entitled “Incoterms 2010”, reflecting the release date rather than the date they come into force (this is the third name change during this revision). In addition to the information provided in previous updates, Mr. Reynolds has provided the following information on items that may be contained in the final version of Incoterms 2010:

• There will be clear differentiation between the omnimodal terms and those intended only for marine use.
• Cargo security will be covered to the extent possible with differing regulatory systems.
• The preambles to each Incoterm will be expanded to better inform users of its intended use.
• A new term will be included to facilitate use in domestic transactions and those within Customs Unions where no export or import clearance obligations exist (as previously noted there are likely to be fewer than the 13 Incoterms in Incoterms 2000).

According to Mr. Reynolds, the "net result will be a more user-friendly set of terms reflecting up-to-date trade practice."  “The changes are substantial, but the benefits are well worth the effort to learn,” he said.

In order to prepare for 2011 implementation of the revised Incoterms, the United States Council for International Business will be conducting training programs starting in the fall of 2010.

The ICC introduced the first version of Incoterms, short for "International Commercial Terms," in 1936. There are currently 13 Incoterms. Incoterms have been revised six times in order to reflect international trade developments.

Frank Reynolds is the author of Incoterms for Americans, a useful publication for U.S. exporters and importers, which will be revised following the publication of Incoterms 2010.

Labels: Incoterms

Here is the latest update on the status of the revisions currently underway to Incoterms 2000.

The Incoterms Drafting Committee recently met to consider the latest draft of the revised version of Incoterms. Several more meetings will be held with a goal of issuing the final version of the revised Incoterms in the fall of 2010. At this point, the goal is to have the revised version of Incoterms go into effect internationally on January 1, 2011.

The next version of Incoterms is likely to be known as Incoterms 2010 (not Incoterms 3000 or Incoterms 2011 as initially proposed and reported).

As we previously noted, a few of the current 13 Incoterms in Incoterms 2000 are likely to be eliminated and there may be at least one new Incoterm.

In order to prepare for 2011 implementation of the revised Incoterms, the United States Council for International Business will provide a number of Incoterms 2011 training programs starting in the fall of 2010.

Labels: Incoterms

The next meeting of the National Council on International Trade Development (NCITD) will take place on December 9, 2009 in Washington, DC and will feature the following speakers:

Labels: CBP, Exports, Incoterms

Frank Reynolds, the U.S. Delegate to the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) Incoterms drafting committee, has provided the editor of International Trade Law News with an update on the status of the revisions currently underway to Incoterms 2000, the standardized trade terms commonly used in international sales contracts.

After receiving a large number of comments from the ICC National Committees, the Incoterms Drafting Committee recently completed a second draft of the revised version of Incoterms. After comments on the second draft are submitted by the National Committees, the Drafting Committee will hold a series of meetings to complete a final draft.

Once the final draft is ready it will be circulated for review and approval (likely in in mid-2010), the final version will be subject to the approval of the ICC, with a goal of a January 1, 2011 (1/1/11) effective date (that date is the ICC's current goal and is subject to change).

Mr. Reynolds indicated that because the drafting process is ongoing, there is "little specific information" presently available. However, he added there are a "few reasonably safe predictions," including the following:

• There are likely to be fewer than the current 13 Incoterms 2000.
• Contrary to some predictions, Incoterm FAS will likely remain in the revised version since that Incoterm is important in bulk and break-bulk trade.
• A number of National Committees objected to the proposed Incoterms 3000 title, so the likely replacement will be "Incoterms 2011." This title will reflect the effective year and removes the expectation of a ten-year revision cycle.
• Incoterms 2011 will be more user friendly for both international and domestic business.

In order to prepare for 2011 implementation of the revised Incoterms, the United States Council for International Business will provide a number of Incoterms 2011 training programs starting in the fall of 2010.

The ICC introduced the first version of Incoterms, short for "International Commercial Terms," in 1936. There are currently 13 Incoterms. Incoterms have been revised six times in order to reflect international trade developments.

Frank Reynolds is the author of Incoterms for Americans, a very useful publication for U.S. exporters and importers.

Labels: Incoterms