Sending goods from one country to another, as part of a commercial transaction, can be a risky business. If they are lost or damaged, or if delivery does not take place for some other reason, the climate of confidence between parties may degenerate to the point where a lawsuit is brought. However, above all, sellers and buyers in international contracts want their deals to be successfully completed.
If, when drawing up their contract, buyer and seller specifically refer to one of the ICC Incoterms, they can be sure of defining their respective responsibilities, simply and safely. In so doing they eliminate any possibility of misunderstanding and subsequent dispute.
Incoterms have been revised to take account of changes in transportation techniques - certain terms have been consolidated and rearranged - and to render them fully compatible with new developments in electronic data interchange (EDI). They are presented in a new format which allows seller and buyer to follow a step-by-step process to determine their respective obligations. A new lay-out makes Incoterms 1990 easier to use.
The publication is the result of extensive consideration by the ICC's Commercial Practices Commission and particularly its Trade Terms Working Party under the Chairmanship of Dr. Hans de Vries (Netherlands). Detailed drafting was entrusted to Professor Jan Ramberg (Sweden), Mr. Ray Battersby (United Kingdom), Mr. Jens Bredow and Mr. Bodo Seiffert (Germany), Mr. Mauro Ferrante (Italy), Mr. Asko Raaty and Mr. Kainu Mikkola (Finland) and to Mrs. Carol Xueref (IHQ) to whom the ICC is particularly indebted.
The other Working Party participants were as follows:
Mr. Ladislaus Blaschek (Austria), Mrs. Carine Gelens, Mr. Jan Somers (+) and Mr. Robert De Roy (Belgium), Mr. Matti Elovirta and Mr. Timo Vierikko (Finland), Mr. Klaus B. Winkler (Germany), Dott. Vladimiro Sabbadini (Italy), Prof. Ryohei Asaoka (Japan), Mr. Santiago Hernandez Izal (Spain), Miss Lyn Murray, Miss Brigitte Faubert and Mr. Pat J. Moore (United Kingdom).