2020 Incoterms More 'User-Friendly,' US Delegate to Drafting Group Says

The recently released 2020 incoterms rules (see 1909100056) are easier to use and understand compared to previous versions, one of several significant changes to the International Chamber of Commerce’s latest revisions, said Frank Reynolds, the U.S. delegate for the ICC’s 2020 drafting group. The ICC said the new incoterms edition is “more accessible” and includes “more detailed explanatory notes with enhanced graphics” to clarify the responsibilities of exporters and importers. It also includes an “extensive introduction … that anybody can understand,” Reynolds said in an interview.

Reynolds said he was the only non-trade lawyer among the delegates in the 2000 and 2010 incoterms drafting rooms. But the 2020 group had other non-lawyers, including the Australian and Chinese delegates, which helped make the language and presentation more understandable, Reynolds said. “The result was a more trade-friendly book written in a more user-friendly way,” said Reynolds, who was also a member of the Commerce Department District Export Council.

Reynolds said the drafting group received “thousands of suggestions” for revisions from exporters and importers through the ICC’s national committees. He said the group looked for three main areas of feedback: which incoterms should be improved, what changes have occurred in the way companies do business, and what problems buyers and sellers had with the latest incoterms. The process took about two and a half years, he said.

“We try to write them in such a way that anyone, anywhere can find some terms that work for them,” Reynolds said. There were some revisions he wished had been made, “but you’re never going to get everything you want and that’s true for every single one of the delegates,” Reynolds said.