"Incoterms" (international commercial terms) is a series of standard international terms that defines buyer and seller responsibilities in foreign trade contracts. The terms, compiled by The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), aim to avoid misunderstanding and are principally used in agreements about the delivery of goods. Each Incoterm outlines who is responsible for transport, insurance, duties and clearance.

The thirteen separate Incoterms are split into four distinct groups:
Group E - where the goods are made available to the buyer at the seller's premises;
Group F - where the seller must deliver the goods to a carrier
appointed by the buyer;
Group C - where the seller must contract for the carriage of the
goods without assuming risk of loss of, or damage to the goods or additional costs due to events occurring after shipment;
Group D - where the seller has to bear all costs and risks required to bring the goods to the place of destination.

Though Incoterms offer a useful guide to responsibilities for the goods at each point of the transport process, it is not possible for them to be fully comprehensive due to variations decided by the custom of particular trades and/or ports. Care should be taken when applying the rules to account for these eventualities.

Traders wishing to use these rules should specify that their contracts will be governed by the provisions of Incoterms 2000, clearly indicating any agreed variations thereto. Incoterms 2000 are available from local Chambers of Commerce or from the ICC website.

Incoterms give no guidance for such variations. There are no authoritative definitions of expressions and allocation of costs for these terms differs from place to place. Where trade terms are expanded, it is important to clarify in the contract to what extent each party is responsible for carriage, risks and costs.