Ex Works and the minimum the seller can undertake

Where the seller's part ends

The obligation is discharged by placing the goods at the disposal of the buyer at the agreed point, on the agreed date, not loaded onto any collecting vehicle and not cleared for export. From that moment the buyer carries the exposure to loss or damage and pays for everything that follows. It is the only rule in the set under which the seller does not even undertake to clear the goods for departure from its own country.

The loading question

Because the rule does not require the seller to load, a buyer whose driver arrives at a factory has no contractual right to insist that the seller's forklift is used, and the risk while loading sits awkwardly between them. In practice sellers load, because they control the yard and the equipment, and the parties are then operating outside what the rule says. Where loading is expected, the contract should say who performs it and who bears the exposure during it, rather than leaving custom to fill the gap.

Export formalities the buyer may be unable to perform

Placing the outbound declaration on a foreign buyer assumes that buyer can act as exporter in the seller's country, and many administrations restrict that role to parties established locally. The practical outcome is that the seller files anyway, informally, without any contractual obligation to do so and without the buyer having any right to the resulting evidence. That is a poor foundation for the seller's own tax position on the supply.

Where it genuinely fits

Domestic sales, sales to a buyer with a substantial presence and its own logistics operation in the seller's country, and situations where the buyer is consolidating from many suppliers and wants uniform control from the factory gate. In those settings the objections fall away because the buyer really can perform what the rule allocates to it. For an ordinary cross-border sale to a customer without local presence, the rule that keeps the same commercial simplicity while fixing the formalities problem is the one where the seller delivers to a carrier.

Frequently asked questions

Who pays for loading at the seller's premises?

Under the rule as written, the buyer bears the cost and the exposure of loading, since the goods are only placed at its disposal. Because sellers usually do the loading with their own equipment anyway, the sensible course is to record the arrangement expressly in the contract instead of relying on what happens on the day.

Can a foreign buyer act as exporter?

Frequently not, because many administrations require the party lodging the outbound declaration to be established in the territory. Where that is the case, either the seller performs the formality under a term that says so, or the parties agree an arrangement in writing that reflects who actually files and who receives the evidence.

What should replace it on an ordinary export sale?

A term under which the seller clears for export and hands the goods to a carrier nominated by the buyer keeps the same allocation of freight cost while putting the departure formalities with the party able to perform them. That is usually the change that resolves the problem without renegotiating the commercial deal.