EXW stands for Ex Works. The seller places the goods at the buyer's disposal at its own premises, without loading them onto a vehicle and without clearing them for export.
Under the EXW Incoterm (Ex Works), the seller carries the lightest set of obligations of all 11 rules. The goods are made available at the seller's own premises, not loaded onto any vehicle and not cleared for export. Loading, inland carriage, export and import all fall to the buyer. It works with any mode of transport.
Buy from a Brazilian supplier on those terms and the arrangement breaks at the first step. A foreign buyer cannot file the paperwork that takes goods out of Brazil, so the job bounces back to the exporter, usually after the price has been agreed.
What does the seller actually deliver under EXW?
Packed goods, placed at the buyer's disposal, at the agreed address and within the agreed period. Nothing beyond that. The official description used in Siscomex (Brazil's federal foreign trade system) is blunt: the seller "merely places the goods at the buyer's disposal at the seller's premises, within the agreed period, taking no responsibility for export clearance or for loading the goods onto any collecting vehicle". Source: Camex (Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber) Resolution No. 16/2020.
Everything that follows belongs to the buyer:
- loading the goods onto the collecting vehicle, at its own cost and risk;
- arranging inland carriage to the port, airport or terminal;
- obtaining export clearance in the country of origin;
- paying international freight and deciding whether to insure the cargo;
- clearing the goods at destination and paying import duties and taxes.
EXW is one of the 11 rules published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The other ten are covered in the guide What are Incoterms®?.
Where does risk pass to the buyer under EXW?
At the moment the goods are placed at the buyer's disposal at the agreed point, ready for loading, still inside the seller's premises. According to the ICC, risk of loss or damage transfers then, before any loading takes place. Source: ICC Academy, Incoterms® 2020.
Picture a batch of machined parts staged in a plant in Joinville, in southern Brazil. The carrier hired by the buyer arrives, runs its forklift and drops the pallet on the ramp. The loss belongs to the buyer, even though the cargo never left the seller's yard.
That gap causes the most common dispute in EXW deals. The party with the dock, the forklift and the trained crew is almost always the seller, so the seller ends up loading as a favour. On paper, it is handling cargo that is no longer at its risk, with nothing in the contract or the insurance policy to cover it.
Why does EXW not work for exports from Brazil?
Because a foreign buyer has no legal standing to clear goods out of the country. Camex Resolution No. 16/2020 records the exception in a note: since the foreign buyer lacks the legal means to arrange clearance for goods leaving Brazil, it is understood that the seller takes that step, at its own cost and risk, in Brazilian exports.
The ICC repeats the point in its survey of national regulatory barriers to the Incoterms® 2020 rules, updated in January 2025. Brazil appears on the list of countries with a barrier to EXW, and the reason given is exactly this one: the buyer cannot handle the process, so clearance, costs and associated risks sit with the seller.
The practical effect is easy to measure. You signed EXW, you quoted a gate price, and you will still pay the customs broker, the documents and the export filing. The contract says one thing, the operation does another, and the difference comes out of your margin.
Who files the DU-E on an EXW sale?
The Brazilian exporter, every time. The DU-E (Declaração Única de Exportação, Brazil's single export declaration) asks for the agreed sales term and for the VMLE, the value of the goods at the place of shipment, which "in exports corresponds to the FOB value of the goods". Source: Receita Federal (Brazil's federal revenue and customs authority), DU-E filing manual, updated on 13 November 2025.
Even selling at the factory gate, you need to know what it costs to move the cargo to the point of shipment, because that is the figure the declaration wants. The rest of the process, from registration to foreign exchange, is covered in the guide to exporting from Brazil.
EXW or FCA: which rule describes your sale?
If the goods cross a border, FCA describes reality better. Delivery still happens at origin, but loading and export clearance move to the side of the contract that can actually perform them. The table compares the two on the points that shape a negotiation:
Criterion | EXW | FCA |
Place of delivery | Seller's premises, not loaded | Named place at origin, to the carrier nominated by the buyer |
Who loads the collecting vehicle | Buyer | Seller, when delivery is at its own premises |
Export clearance | Buyer | Seller |
Where risk passes | Goods at disposal, before loading | On handover to the carrier |
Mode of transport | Any | Any |
On-board bill of lading | Not provided for | Possible, if agreed |
Exports from Brazil | Clearance returns to the seller by rule | Matches the operation as it happens |
The ICC guidance is direct: where the buyer intends to export the goods and anticipates difficulty in obtaining export clearance, it would be better advised to choose FCA, the rule under which the obligation and cost of export clearance lie with the seller. How the rule works, including the 2020 change on bills of lading, is set out in the guide to the FCA Incoterm in Brazil.
When the cargo moves by sea and the buyer wants to control ocean freight, the conversation shifts to the port rules, compared in the guide to the FOB Incoterm and Brazil.
When does EXW still make sense?
When the goods cross no border at all. The ICC itself says EXW may be suitable for domestic trades, where there is no intention to export. That is the setting the rule was built for: hand over at the gate and stop there.
Three situations where it causes no trouble:
- sales between companies inside the same country or the same customs union;
- sales to a buyer with legal presence in Brazil, such as a branch, a trading company or a registered representative that exports in its own name;
- reference quotes, when the buyer wants a clean ex-factory price to compare suppliers and build its own freight calculation.
Outside those cases, the practical advice is to offer FCA at your premises instead. The delivery point stays the same, the price barely moves, and the contract starts describing who does what.
Which mistakes cost the most in an EXW contract?
Check these before signing:
- writing "EXW" without the full address and without the version of the rules;
- assuming the seller will load the truck because there is a forklift in the yard;
- pricing as EXW and then paying for the broker and the export documents;
- using EXW with a buyer that holds no registration to operate in Brazil;
- forgetting that risk has already passed while the cargo sits in your own yard;
- leaving out who pays storage if the collecting vehicle arrives late.
A complete clause names the place and the version, as in "EXW Rua Industrial 400, Joinville, Incoterms® 2020". Without an address, the delivery point becomes an argument at the first delay.
Frequently asked questions about the EXW Incoterm
The buyer. From the moment the goods are placed at its disposal, the buyer covers loading, inland carriage, international freight and import duties and taxes.
Yes. EXW works with any mode of transport, including air and express, although the ICC recommends FCA whenever the goods are going to cross a border.
Under EXW the buyer loads the goods and handles export clearance. Under FCA the seller clears the goods for export, and it also loads them when delivery takes place at its own premises.
It does, with one mandatory adjustment. Under Camex Resolution No. 16/2020, export clearance stays with the Brazilian exporter even in an EXW contract, because the foreign buyer cannot perform it.
No. Neither party is obliged to arrange insurance under EXW, so a buyer who wants cover has to buy its own policy from the moment of loading.
Sources
- ICC: Incoterms® 2020
- ICC Academy: Incoterms® 2020: EXW or FCA?
- ICC: National regulatory barriers to the Incoterms® 2020 rules (January 2025)
- Camex (Official Gazette): Resolution No. 16 of 2 March 2020
- Receita Federal: DU-E filing manual, Step 4: item details (updated 13/11/2025)
From the factory gate to the customer abroad
Selling at the gate looks simple until an export stalls for a missing document, or until cargo is damaged and nobody can say whose risk it was. Rules such as FCA, CPT and DAP keep the deal readable and let you sell with carriage and clearance already arranged, including on small, urgent shipments.
If your company wants to move beyond a gate price and deliver closer to the customer, open a DHL Express business account and export with end to end tracking and customs handled on both sides.
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