Topical Issues of Terms Unification in the Light of the Development of "Incoterms 2020"

Abstract

The article is devoted to the current issue concerning the development of a new edition of Incoterms delivery bases, which should be published and officially come into force in 2020. This edition will be the ninth edition of the international commercial terms in the account. Analyzing the proposals of both domestic and Western experts, the author comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to make a number of improvements concerning both the creation of new terms and the removal of bases that have lost their relevance. The article also discusses the main problems caused by a number of shortcomings of the latest edition on the present day. Thus, many contractors include in the terms of the contract modified terms, the meaning of which may differ from the official interpretation, and also be not clear to the parties to the contract. Moreover, there are still many disputes about the scope of insurance, which is obliged to provide some bases. Due to the large number of Incoterms editions and insufficient level of information to participants in international trade, a number of counterparties incorrectly choose a term that can make the terms of the contract enslaving to one of the parties.