Incolearn – Learning more about Incoterms 2000

DELIVERED EX QUAY (DEQ) PART I – Introducing Delivered Ex Quay The Internati onal Chamber of Commerce (ICC) defines the eleventh Incoterm Delivered E x Quay (DEQ), at a named port of destination, as “the seller delivers when the goods are placed at the disposal of the buyer not cleared for import on the quay (wharf) at the named port of destination. The seller has to bear costs and risks involved in bringing the goods to the named port of destination and discharging the goods on the quay (wharf). The DEQ term requires the buyer to clear the goods for import and to pay for all formalities, duties, taxes and other charges upon import”. Delivered E x Quay is the third of the five D-terms also known as the main carriage paid terms, the others being Delivered At Frontier (DAF), Delivered E x Ship (DES), Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU), and Delivered Duty Paid. It is important to remember that this term can only be used for sea and inland waterway transport on discharging from a vessel onto the quay (wharf) in the port of destination. According to Professor Jan Ramsberg, the chairman of the ICC Working Party on Trade Terms, the seller’s primary duty is to contract for carriage and insurance, deliver the goods on the quay, provide a document to enable the buyer to take delivery from the quay (bill of lading or delivery order), and arrange export clearance. The buyer’s primary duty is to take delivery of the goods from the quay at the port of destination and to arrange import clearance. The documents required in terms of the contract of sale should be the commercial invoice and the bill of lading or delivery order. The other documents needed are for the transit of the goods through any country or for import clearance. The three critical points of DEQ are firstly, that the seller must arrange the carriage. Secondly, the risk transfers from the seller to the buyer when the goods are placed at the disposal of the buyer on the quay; and thirdly that the cost transfers from the seller to the buyer when the goods are placed at the disposal of the buyer on the quay. N ext week’s column will focus on the seller’s obligations under Delivered Ex Quay (DEQ).