Delivered at Place
The seller places the goods at the buyer’s disposal on the arriving means of transport, ready for unloading, at the named destination, bearing all costs and risks up to that point. Unloading, import clearance, duties and VAT are for the buyer. Widely used for delivered truck sales; the contract should say who pays waiting charges if import formalities cause delays.
Related terms
Delivered at Place Unloaded DPU
The only Incoterms rule that obliges the seller to unload the goods at destination; it replaced the former DAT in Incoterms 2020. The seller bears all risks and costs up to and including unloading at the named place, while import clearance and duties remain with the buyer. If the seller has no control over unloading equipment at destination, the rule is risky and DAP is usually safer.
Delivered Duty Paid DDP
The Incoterm with the greatest obligation for the seller: the goods are delivered in the buyer’s country, cleared for import with duties and import taxes paid, ready for unloading. It is hard to apply if the seller has no tax registration or authorised representative in the importing country, and costs such as non-recoverable import VAT can arise. Because of these risks, raw material trade usually prefers DAP with the buyer handling import clearance.
Carriage Paid To CPT
The multimodal counterpart of CFR, usable with any mode of transport. The seller contracts and pays carriage to the named destination, but risk passes to the buyer as soon as the goods are handed to the first carrier. Because the point where costs transfer differs from the point where risk transfers, the buyer should insure the transit. Common for road, rail, air and container shipments.
Import duty (customs tariff)
A tax charged on imported goods on their customs value, according to the HS code and country of origin. It is usually a percentage of value (ad valorem), sometimes an amount per quantity (e.g. EUR per tonne). The rate can change with the general WTO rate (MFN), free trade agreements (zero or reduced rates), additional duties or anti-dumping measures. In landed-cost calculations it is computed on the CIF value including freight and insurance and is then added to the VAT base.
Explained in the trade handbook
More in Incoterms & trade contracts
- Arbitration (international commercial arbitration)
- Carriage and Insurance Paid To (CIP)
- Cost and Freight (CFR)
- Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF)
- Ex Works (EXW)
- Force majeure
- Free Alongside Ship (FAS)
- Free Carrier (FCA)
- Free On Board (FOB)
- Incoterms 2020
- Named place (point of delivery)
- Proforma invoice (PI)