Category Archives: International Business

Changes Introduced by Incoterms 2010

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The 2010 incoterms of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) came into effect on January 1, 2011 and replace the former incoterms 2000.

The following is a summary of changes introduced with the new Incoterms 2010.

With the new Incoterms® 2010 the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has made an effort to improve their utilization. We can also observe in this new edition an important simplification effort. Four Incoterms have been eliminated and two new ones have been created instead.

Let us see these changes in the table below, where we can see in bold the Incoterms that have disappeared. There were thirteen Incoterms 2000, among which the International Chamber of Commerce distinguished between maritime Incoterms and polyvalent ones, but all thirteen Incoterms featured in a single list.

INCOTERMS 2000

EXW Ex works (polyvalent)
FAS Free alongside ship (maritime)
FOB Free on board (maritime)
FCA Free carrier (polyvalent)
CPT Carriage paid to (polyvalent)
CFR Cost and Freight (maritime)
CIP Carriage and insurance paid to (polyvalent)
CIF Cost, insurance and freight (maritime)
DES Delivered ex-ship (maritime)
DEQ Delivered ex-quay, duty paid (maritime)
DAF Delivered at frontier (polyvalent)
DDU Delivered duty unpaid (polyvalent)
DDP Delivered duty paid (polyvalent)

With regard to the 2010 Incoterms, we can see that the International Chamber of Commerce has created two categories of Incoterms, one which can be utilised with any mode or modes of transport – therefore including road, train, air, sea, river and any combination of these; and a second category that refers only to those Incoterms that can be used for sea or river transport.

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Why Good Translation Will Always Pay Off

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We live in a globalized job market, no longer do people only converse solely with people who speak their first language. The same could be said for businesses, people compete for jobs across the planet and having a good translation service is highly important in dealing with important documents as the slightest miss-translation can lead to a whole heap of problems down the line.

Imagine a scenario where you’re trying to send important documents to a Japanese client, you can’t trust machine translation as often important words will lose their meaning along the way, and leaving it to the client to translate can appear very unprofessional in a corporate business market. You plump for a quick and dirty machine translation and get the guy in the office who speaks a little Japanese to read over it to see if it all makes sense. He doesn’t really know, but you don’t have time to mess around any longer. The Japanese client takes one look at the gibberish in front of him and sends an email to you asking what it meant.

This whole scenario could have been avoided by linking yourself with a quality translation firm, of course you’re going to need a whole heap of trust and you’re going to need to check that the company can actually provide the vital service you need but when this is done your business will be much stronger for it, no matter how big or small you are good quality translation will always pay off.

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Dealing With The Language Barrier In International Business

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More and more often in business we find that companies spread divisions of themselves across the planet and you may well find that as you go from talking to one English speaking part of a company you hit a Urdu speaking part of a German speaking part, it’s times like these that good quality translations in anything from user manuals to private documents can become incredibly useful.

My story began a long while ago, I was working as CEO of a medium sized IT repair company, taking orders from across the planet and trying to explain my company’s procedures to clients across the planet with the help of our good friend Google Translate. Not only did this produce emails with hideous typos but also game my entire company an air of unprofessionalism that I had fought hard to battle ever since taking over in a senior position in the company. So I set about hiring people for positions they weren’t qualified for just because I knew they could speak and translate documents into foreign language. Needless to say, this was a costly and time consuming error.

So I set about trying to find myself a translation company who could guarantee me complete transparency, and could inspire the confidence I needed to pass over many sensitive documents to be translated in a timely professional way. But after taking a lot of advance and reading around online I managed to find a company that fit my needs perfectly and they’ve been handling my business for the past 2 years now, it’s all about research in the end.

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Sensitive Documents And Translation

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In this modern age we think nothing of sending documents across the planet and using machine translators to impartially and often incorrectly translate our most sensitive and vital files and documents. But should we think more carefully about these seemingly anonymous forces who we give an immense amount of power over our business future to?

No, I’m not suggesting you run out and fashion yourself a hat out of tin foil to stop “them” reading your brainwaves, but getting a good translation service is one of the most valuable additions to your business you can make if you work with people from across the planet. Thankfully, the language barrier is no longer as impenetrable as it once was but with that ease of use and universal applicability comes a lack in professionalism and personality, which is often what sets you apart in a corporate business environment.

I decided to find a reputable translation service when I sent a private business document to a client in Germany, using a web based machine translation service. On arrival my German client remarked on how he had struggled to understand the tone in which it was written and had taken it negatively. I did attempt to assure him that it was of course not meant to be read in such a light but the machine translator had struggled to understand what the letter meant by looking at single words rather than whole documents. I lost that customer and subsequently did not get paid any of the money I was owed for the work done.

If I were you I’d take my advice and find yourself a reputable translation firm to keep your business in top form as the market becomes increasingly globalised.

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The Importance of PCI Compliance

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Before the PCI DSS was established, various card brands set up their own security programmes in order to protect card holder data and identity theft due to ongoing data compromises occurring at numerous levels.

In 2006, the five major card brands (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Card and JCB) then decided to unify their policies and procedures under one universal standard that was called the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The PCI council governs the payment industry and ensures that all entities accepting, storing or transmitting credit card data adhere to the PCI DSS. The aim is to reduce the number of security breaches and protect the card brands.

PCI DSS can help organisations to;

  • protect valuable customer information including payment card details
  • protect against the loss of valuable business information and the cost associated with data compromise
  • protect against the negative publicity associated with a data breech
  • ensure continued customer confidence in the use of payment cards

How does an organisation attain PCI compliance?

An organisation can attain PCI compliance by conforming to the 12 security requirements set out within the PCI DSS. Depending on their merchant level an organisation that is accepting, storing or transmitting card data can become PCI DSS compliant by either submitting a validated Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) or by undergoing an onsite assessment with a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA).

The merchant level depends on the volume of transactions that they are handling per annum. An organisation that is handling 6 million transactions or more must have an onsite assessment carried out each year by a QSA as well as quarterly network scans.

However, an organisation that is handling 20,000 to 6 million transactions per year can fill out an SAQ but must also undergo quarterly scans of their external network in order to conform to PCI compliance. For
organisations handling less than 20,000 transactions per year, they must also undergo quarterly scans on their network and complete an SAQ.

If an organisation that is handling card data from one of the PCI council member brands falls victim to a security breach, they can incur a significant fine and be banned from handling future credit card payments for any of the five major card brands.

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