The draft proposal of Incoterms ® 2010 was unanimously approved at the ICC’s Commercial Law and Practice Commission (CLP) on May 6th. Before launching the new terms, this draft proposal has to be approved by the ICC Executive Board.  This meeting is scheduled for September 16 & 17.  If all goes as planned, Incoterms® 2010 will become a reality upon their approval. The new set of rules are expected to come into force on 1/1/2011.

ICC  foresees the launch of the Incoterms® 2010 rules with a Major Conference in Paris from 27^th till 29^th September 2010. 

For the time being, there is little information to share on the changes, although it is expected that:

• changes will be substantial;
• there will be fewer rules than the 13 Incoterms 2000;
• there are brand new rules;
• the new rules will be much more friendly.
• Incoterms will be calles ‘rules’.

Incoterms or international commercial terms are a series of standard trade definitions, published by International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and widely used in international commercial transactions. They are used to divide transaction costs and responsibilities between buyer and seller and reflect state-of-the-art transportation practices.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), introduced the first version of Incoterms in 1936. There are currently 13 Incoterms. Among the best known Incoterms are EXW (Ex Works), FOB (Free on Board), CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight), DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid), and CPT (Carriage Paid To).

The Incoterms have been revised six times in order to reflect international trade developments. The last update of the Incoterms entered into force on 1 January 2000. As the guardian and originator of Incoterms rules, ICC has a responsibility to consult regularly all parties interested in international trade to keep Incoterms rules relevant, efficient and up-to-date. ICC is currently revising Incoterms 2000. This revision is expected to be major on the seller-buyer cargo security obligations, which are linked to respective Custom-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) cargo security regimes.

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. It appears that the new version of Incoterms will be entitled “Incoterms 2010”. This new edition is expected to enter into force on 1 January 2011.