My supplier
only sells EXW
Ex works is the least a seller can commit to. It is also the term most likely to strand a consignment at the factory gate. Here is what it hands you, why most buyers cannot legally accept it, and the four ways out.
What ex works actually transfers
Under Incoterms 2020, EXW means the seller places the goods at your disposal at their own premises. That is the whole of their obligation. They are not required to load the goods onto your vehicle. They are not required to clear the goods for export. Everything from the loading bay onwards is yours.
The International Chamber of Commerce, which writes the Incoterms rules, recommends FCA instead of EXW for cross-border sales. EXW was designed for domestic transactions. When it is used across a border, the obligations it silently transfers to the buyer are obligations most buyers are not registered to perform.
Why the supplier will not budge
A supplier who insists on ex works is rarely being difficult. They are declining a specific legal role.
- Filing an export declaration makes them the exporter of record, with liability for the accuracy of the declaration, the classification and the declared origin.
- Certifying preferential origin exposes them to retrospective audit, and to recovery of duty from the importer if the certification is later found wrong.
- For products of animal origin, exporting means holding an approved establishment number listed for the destination market, and organising official veterinary certification for each consignment.
- Many good manufacturers have no customs department at all. Their commercial team sells; nobody there files declarations.
None of this is about your creditworthiness or the size of your order. It is about a function they have chosen not to build.
What you have agreed to do
Accept ex works and the following sits with you, in the seller's country and in yours.
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Collection and loading
Arranging the vehicle, and in most cases bearing the risk of loading it at the seller's premises. The seller has no obligation to help.
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Export declaration at origin
Lodged in the seller's country, in the name of a person legally entitled to be the exporter there. This is where most ex works purchases fail, for the reason set out below.
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Certificates and licences
Export health certificate for products of animal origin, phytosanitary certificate for plant products, certificate of origin, and any document the destination market requires. Each is issued before dispatch, on the basis of the goods and the establishment.
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Preferential origin certification
Without it, a trade agreement that should give a zero or reduced rate gives you nothing, and the goods pay the full tariff.
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Import declaration at destination
Plus prior notification and, for controlled goods, a booked inspection at a border control post.
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Duty and import VAT
Settled under a registration in the destination country, in the name of a party entitled to hold one.
The establishment rule
This is the point that stops most ex works purchases, and it is rarely explained before the goods are already booked.
Under the Union Customs Code, the exporter named on an EU export declaration must be established in the customs territory of the Union. The United Kingdom applies an equivalent rule to exports from Great Britain. The consequence is direct: a UK company cannot lodge a French export declaration in its own name, and a company outside the UK cannot lodge a British one.
A freight forwarder does not solve this. A forwarder acts as a representative, and a representative acts on behalf of a principal who must still qualify as the exporter. The forwarder does not take title and does not become the declared exporter. Appointing one moves the paperwork without changing who is legally responsible.
So the question is not who will do the filing. It is who is entitled to be named.
The four options
| Option | What it takes | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ask the supplier to sell FCA or DAP instead | Free to try, and occasionally it works. A supplier with no customs function will decline, and pressing the point can cost you the relationship. |
| 2 | Establish your own entity in the country of dispatch | Incorporation, EORI, VAT registration, and for food a fiscal and sanitary footprint. Months of work and a permanent overhead, justified only by continuous volume. |
| 3 | Appoint a freight forwarder as representative | Solves the mechanics, not the legal capacity. You still have to be a person entitled to be the exporter. It also leaves you with four separate invoices and no single delivered price. |
| 4 | Use an exporter of record | A third party established at origin buys the goods ex works, takes title, exports under its own registration, imports at destination and delivers. No entity to build, one contract, one price. |
Option four is the mechanism we operate. The supplier's process does not change at all: they sell domestically, to a buyer in their own country, in their own currency. The full sequence, step by step.
Products of animal origin
Meat and dairy raise the stakes. An export health certificate is signed by an official veterinarian or certifying officer before dispatch, on the basis of the goods and the approved establishment they came from. It cannot be issued after the fact.
A consignment that leaves without one does not get a second chance at the border. The options at destination are re-export or destruction, both at your cost, and the goods are usually chilled or frozen while the decision is being taken.
This is also why the supplier's approval status matters before anything is ordered. An establishment that is not approved and listed for your destination market cannot be certified for it, whatever the product quality. How we handle food and POAO.
Common questions
Can my freight forwarder be the exporter of record?
No. A forwarder acts as a representative, on behalf of a principal who must still qualify as the exporter. It does not take title to the goods and does not become the declared exporter.
Can I be the exporter if my company is not established in the country of dispatch?
Generally no. The exporter named on an EU export declaration must be established in the customs territory of the Union, and Great Britain applies an equivalent rule. This is the constraint that ends most ex works purchases.
Can an export health certificate be obtained after the goods have shipped?
No. It is issued before dispatch and cannot be granted retrospectively. A consignment that travels without one will be refused at the border control post.
Does my supplier have to change anything?
No. They sell ex works to a buyer established in their own country, on the terms they already use domestically. They file nothing and register for nothing.
What is the difference between EXW and FCA?
Under FCA the seller loads the goods and clears them for export. Under EXW they do neither. The ICC recommends FCA for cross-border sales for that reason.
Can I still claim a preferential duty rate?
Only if origin is certified. An exporter not registered in the REX system can self-certify up to €6,000 per consignment. Above that, certification must come from a registered exporter or the goods pay the full rate.
Before you commit
Whether an ex works purchase is workable is a question with an answer, and the answer is available before money moves. Establishment approval at origin, product eligibility at destination, classification, duty rate, certificates required, and every point at which the goods could be held.
We put it in writing, with a go or no-go.