Masterclass to keep the wheels of trade moving
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| Catherine Grejon - learning the ins and outs of Incoterms from the masters |
Paris, 29 October, 2002 - After using Incoterms for more than ten years, Catherine Grejon thought she knew all she needed to know about ICC's widely-used "standard trade definitions".
But a recent dispute with a supplier over who should pay import customs clearance fees was enough to encourage the Catgroup employee to enrol in today's Incoterms masterclass - designed to help trade practitioners brush up on their Incoterms knowledge.
Ms Grejon ran into difficulties earlier this year when negotiating a sales contract using the DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid) Incoterm.
The client, a Turkish forwarding agent, insisted that the seller, Catgroup - one of Europe's largest transport and logistics companies - should pay the import customs clearance. Ms Grejon understood this to be the buyer's responsibility and refused to pay.
"I've been working for more than ten years in international transport therefore I'm very familiar with Incoterms," she said. "But sometimes you realise you don't know the minor details. Customs clearance had never been an issue for me before."
Six weeks of frustrated phone calls and more than thirty emails ensued in an effort to resolve the disagreement.
Eventually she contacted Jonas Astrup, ICC's Commercial Practice Policy Assistant who directed her to the full ICC DDU Incoterm text. The text assured her import customs clearance was the responsibility of the buyer, not the seller, unless otherwise stated in the contract.
However language problems hindered her efforts to communicate this to her Turkish clients, who remained adamant that they were not responsible for customs charges. Seeking, once more, Mr Astrup's advice Ms Grejon discovered that Incoterms are available in 31 languages.
Armed with a Turkish translation of the DDU incoterm she was able to prove to the buyer that customs clearance was not her company's responsibility. Her client conceded that she was right and the dispute was resolved.
As a direct consequence of this wrangle Catgroup has enrolled Ms Grejon in the ICC Incoterms masterclass taking place in Paris today. At this masterclass, the first of its kind, experts who contributed to the latest version, Incoterms 2000, and who are familiar with every nuance and pitfall, are to pass on their expertise to the traders, bankers and lawyers who use them.
Alison Graham-Yooll, ICC conference organizer said the masterclass will be totally in
teractive. "We shall be running four classes simultaneously, each for no more than 15 people. So all participants will receive individual tuition from the masters."
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