Vehicle Supply Chains in Humanitarian Operations

In the common-law system, the passing of goods take place when the at the time when the buyer intends it to be transferred and that is not bound to any rules and laws of the countries. When both parties deal with goods that are unascertained, passing of property of the goods only takes place at the time when the goods are ascertained.

Various instruments govern the passing of property of goods in international sale contracts, such instruments include the United Nations Conventions on Contracts for the Sale of Goods (CISG) and Incoterms (International Commercial Terms adopted by the International Chamber of Commerce for use in international and domestic contracts for the sale of goods). CISG applies when parties who engage in business come from different states or when the parties come from different states that are not members of the convention. It effects transfer of property only if the goods are delivered to the buyers in other states or countries, in these cases, the convention may apply domestic law during the trade.

During the business practice under the Incoterms, the transfer of property does not come in as a matter of contention but only the responsibilities that the parties have to fulfil for the delivery of goods during the sale contracts. On the occasions that the parties fail to agree on the most applicable laws to apply on their sale of goods due to lack of mutual agreement, negligence and ignorance, the court then comes in to analyse the laws that affect the sale of goods in the countries involved and the court shall harmonize the clauses of the conflicting laws.

There comes a difference in some countries in that there occurs transfer of property only when the goods are delivered to another country, this might also require payment of the full amount of money for the prices of the goods besides delivery of the goods. There occurs a very easy way of passing property between states when transfer of property is governed only by laws of one of the country, this makes it very easy to enable sale and transfer of goods between countries.

There are several processes involved during international trade, there is the process of sale contract process, letter of credit process and cargo shipment process. The process of sale contract involves six stages and one is the introductory letter where the exporters promote their goods through trade exhibitions and audio and visual media, the second stage is the letter of inquiry where the importer sends a letter to the exporter to enquire about price, quantity, delivery time and destination port. Third stage is the offersheet which is the response from the exporter to answer all the inquiries of the prospective importer, fourth is the sales contract stage that outlines the sales contract according to the offersheet and all the rules relating to the process. Finally, there is sales confirmation where the importer reviews the sales contract and approves the contract then sends the sales contract back to the importer.

There also exist principles that govern the passing of property during the sale of goods between countries. The mode of passing property depends on whether the parties rely on civil law or common law. In the sale of goods in international trade during the application of civil law, transfer of property takes place either at the time when the parties agree upon or at the time the parties seal their consent to the sale of goods. The second mode of transfer of property takes place whether or not the goods have been delivered or the price has been fully paid.

In the letter of credit process, the importer sends the letter of credit to his bank and requests for funding to pay for all the liabilities to the exporter in accordance to the sales contract. The opening bank the issues a letter of credit that responds to the requests of the exporter and shows the viability of the request, finally, an advising bank notifies the exporter about the state of funding that it the opening bank can offer.

Finally, in the cargo shipment process, the exporter prepares the goods for shipment after receiving the letter of credit confirmation and organizes all the formalities regarding the export process. The next process is the loading of the goods to the ship while the shipping company submits a receipt of the goods received, forwarding contract and a copy of the ownership of the goods. The shipping company delivers the goods to the importer and the shipping agent surrenders the goods to the importer.

References

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