Reference
Incoterms Responsibility Chart
This chart lays out who — seller (S) or buyer (B) — is responsible for six shipment tasks across seven representative Incoterms 2020 terms, from EXW (minimum seller obligation) through DDP (maximum seller obligation). Use it to see at a glance where a term's obligations sit before you commit to it in a sales contract.
| Task | EXW | FCA | FOB | CFR | CIF | DAP | DDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Export packing & loading | B | S | S | S | S | S | S |
| Export customs | B | S | S | S | S | S | S |
| Main carriage | B | B | B | S | S | S | S |
| Insurance | B | B | B | B | S | B | S |
| Import customs | B | B | B | B | B | B | S |
| Delivery to buyer | B | B | B | B | B | S | S |
S = Seller · B = Buyer (simplified overview)
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How it works
Each row is a task — export packing and loading, export customs, main carriage, insurance, import customs, and delivery to the buyer — and each column is a term. The cell tells you who handles that task for that term: S for seller, B for buyer. Reading across a row shows how responsibility for one task shifts as you move from EXW to DDP; reading down a column shows the full obligation profile for a single term.
The seven terms shown span both Incoterms 2020 groups: EXW, FCA, DAP, and DDP apply to any transport mode, while FOB, CFR, and CIF are sea/inland-waterway-only terms built around a vessel and a port. Moving left to right through the chart roughly tracks increasing seller responsibility, with EXW placing almost everything on the buyer and DDP placing almost everything, including import duty, on the seller.
The most important thing this chart can't show in a single cell: who pays for a leg is not the same question as when risk transfers. Under CFR and CIF, for example, the "Main carriage" and "Insurance" rows show the seller paying all the way to the destination port — but risk actually passes to the buyer earlier, the moment goods are on board the vessel at the origin port. The seller keeps paying after risk has already moved. Don't read "Seller pays" as "seller bears the risk" for that leg.
Worked example
Reading the CIF column
- Export packing & loadingSeller
- Export customsSeller
- Main carriageSeller
- InsuranceSeller
- Import customsBuyer
- Delivery to buyerBuyer
Under CIF, the seller pays freight and minimum insurance through to the destination port — but risk transfers to the buyer once goods are on board the vessel at the origin port, well before the seller stops paying.
Frequently asked questions
Who pays for freight, insurance, and duty under each Incoterm group?
Under the E term (EXW), the buyer arranges and pays for everything from the seller's premises onward, including export clearance. Under the F terms (FCA, FAS, FOB), the seller delivers or loads the goods and handles export clearance, but the buyer arranges and pays main carriage and insurance. Under the C terms (CPT, CIP, CFR, CIF), the seller pays main carriage — and, for CIP and CIF, minimum insurance — through to the destination, even though risk has already passed to the buyer earlier. Under the D terms (DAP, DPU, DDP), the seller pays carriage all the way to the named destination and bears risk until arrival, with DDP additionally covering import duty.
Which Incoterms are sea-only?
FAS, FOB, CFR, and CIF are sea and inland-waterway-only under Incoterms 2020 — each is defined around a vessel and a port, so "on board" and "alongside ship" only make sense in that context. The other seven terms (EXW, FCA, CPT, CIP, DAP, DPU, DDP) work for any mode, including air, road, rail, and multimodal shipments.
What changed in Incoterms 2020?
The headline structural change was renaming DAT (Delivered at Terminal) to DPU (Delivered at Place Unloaded), which broadens the delivery point from specifically a "terminal" to any named place the parties agree on, as long as the seller unloads there. Incoterms 2020 also raised CIP's minimum insurance requirement to a broader all-risk level while CIF kept its lower minimum-cover requirement, and added an option for FCA shipments to get an on-board bill of lading for letter-of-credit purposes.
Which Incoterm is best for a beginner buyer?
CIF is a common starting point for a first-time importer by sea, since the seller arranges and pays for main freight and minimum insurance to the destination port — but the buyer still handles import customs, destination charges, and bears cargo risk from the moment of loading at origin, well before the goods arrive. DDP shifts nearly everything, including import duty, to the seller, which is simpler for the buyer but requires a seller with import-side experience or registration in the buyer's country and typically costs more. Neither is universally "easier" — the trade-off is between the buyer taking on more coordination (CIF) or paying a premium for the seller to absorb it (DDP).
Related tools
Estimates & assumptions
- Based on Incoterms 2020.
- This is a simplified seller/buyer overview of six tasks, not the full rule text — cost allocation (who pays) is not the same as risk transfer (when risk passes), and the exact obligations for your shipment should be confirmed against the named Incoterm and place in your sales contract.
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