FCA Free Carrier

FCA is an abbreviation for “Free Carrier” used to describe the obligations of delivery to the buyer in international sales of goods, shipping and carriage contracts. Free Carrier contracts are those whereby the seller of goods has the obligation to deliver the goods to a place named or nominated by the buyer, such as an airport or shipping terminal. In the event that delivery is to take place at the seller’s premises, the seller has the obligation to load the goods; in any other case, the buyer is responsible for unloading the goods once delivered by the seller. The seller is obliged to arrange for insurance to cover risk to the goods until the goods have been delivered to the place nominated by the buyer, but at the buyer’s expense.  The buyer must take delivery once the goods have been delivered by the seller at his own expense.

Use of FCA Contracts for Delivery

FCA contracts are usually used in circumstances where one or more means of transport are used to deliver the goods.  Also, the seller will be liable for the goods until such time as the goods are delivered, and must procure export licences and other documentation for export of the goods.

The buyer is responsible for import licences and transit through any country after export.

Under FCA contracts, the seller has delivered the goods when:

delivery is to take place at the seller’s premises, when the goods are loaded;
delivery is to a place other than the seller’s premises, when the goods are made available to the buyer or the buyer’s nominated carrier;
in the event that the seller has arranged carriage, once the goods arrive at the destination. The buyer is responsible for unloading.  Where there are several points at the place of delivery, the seller may choose the point of delivery at his convenience.

Variations of meaning of FCA take place from country to country in accordance with the laws of the country by which the contract is governed, usually in accordance with a choice of law clause which should be accompanied by a jurisdiction clause. Ideally, the standard meanings of shipping and transportation terms would be adopted from the Incoterms, produced by the International Chamber of Commerce. Incorporating a reference such as this reduces the ambiguities in respect of the intended meaning.