La vendita con trasporto nel commercio internazionale

The most significant aspect of international trade is the sale of goods that must be carried from one place to another. Such type of sale must be understood to be included within the subject matter of the law of navigation, in accordance with the original vocation of maritime law, when carriage was essentially linked to trade and to sale of goods. In the daily practice of international commerce, the sale of goods to be carried is regulated by the INCOTERMS®, clauses drafted by the International Chamber of Commerce, derived from those used in operating practice and periodi- cally updated; they are normative models that the parties can incorporate into their agreement, giving them contractual effects. The INCOTERMS® consist of eleven clauses, some of which can be used for maritime transport only and others for all types of transport. They regulate differently the parties’ obligations, depending on when and where delivery of the goods takes place: at departure (terms marked by letter E), at the beginning of the main transport arranged by the buyer (terms marked by letter F) or by the seller (terms marked by letter C), at destination (terms marked by letter D). They reconnect to the delivery the passing of the risk of carriage (i.e., the incidence on the seller or on the buyer of the loss of the goods during the carriage operations), regardless of the ownership of the goods. Therefore, the Italian case law that considers INCOTERMS® as suitable for establishing the allocation of the costs of the carriage, but not also the risks of the same, should be disregarded.