DAP
Also known as: Delivered at Place
DAP, Delivered at Place, means the seller delivers the goods at the agreed place, ready for unloading, and bears the risk until then. Import formalities, duties and VAT are for the buyer.
Who arranges what under DAP?
The seller arranges and pays the whole carriage to the named place and files the export declaration. They bear the risk until the goods arrive there, ready for unloading on the arriving means of transport. Loss or damage in transit is theirs, unlike CPT and CIP, where the risk already passed at the first carrier. Unloading is for the buyer, as is the import declaration and everything that follows from it in duties, VAT and any inspections. The seller is not obliged to insure, but because they bear the risk to arrival they have an interest in a policy themselves. That policy covers their risk, not the buyer's. DAP applies to any mode, including the seller's own transport. For a shipper with their own trucks who drive to the customer, DAP is the term that matches the practice. The driver arrives, the buyer unloads, and until that moment the shipment is the seller's.
Where does the risk pass under DAP?
Only on arrival at the named place. DAP is therefore a delivery term under which the seller bears the full transport risk, unlike CPT and CIP. Cost and risk run together here: both to the destination. That makes DAP a more honest term for the buyer, and a heavier one for the seller. Delay in the import formalities is the buyer's risk. If the shipment sticks at customs because the buyer has no permit, the consequences are theirs. Demurrage, extra handling and spoilage after arrival at the named place sit with the buyer, even if the seller executed the transport correctly. The named place must be precise. DAP Buyer's warehouse, Street 12, Venlo is a transfer point. DAP Netherlands or DAP Venlo is not. At a physical control or an inspection at the border the shipment has not yet passed the named place, and the risk stays with the seller until the goods actually arrive there.
What is the difference between DAP, DPU and DDP?
Under DAP the seller delivers ready for unloading and the buyer unloads. Under DPU the seller unloads themselves, which makes it the only Incoterm with an unloading obligation for the seller. The transfer point is the named place under both; DPU only sits later because unloading is included. Charts that put DPU at a terminal and DAP further on at the buyer are drawing two places, not two rules. Under DDP the seller goes one step further and also files the import declaration and pays the duties and VAT. The three terms thus form an ascending series: deliver, deliver and unload, deliver with import included. Each extra step is an obligation the seller must be able to perform in that country. Choose DAP if the seller can handle the transport but does not want or cannot do the import in the destination country. Choose DPU only if they can actually unload at that place. Choose DDP only if they have an EORI number, a VAT position and a representative there. Anything else is an obligation on paper that stalls in the port.
What does DAP mean for the customs value?
The DAP price contains the full carriage to the place of destination, including the intra-EU part. On import that inland part may be taken off the customs value, provided it can be shown separately. Duties and VAT are not in the price under DAP; the buyer pays those themselves on the import declaration. That inland part is a real amount under DAP: the leg from the port or airport to the final destination can be a fixed share of the freight. An invoice that only names a delivered price to destination leaves that money on the table. Ask the seller therefore for a split of goods value, carriage to the EU border and carriage inside the EU. On the import declaration the named place is the destination in the country of import. DAP warehouse buyer NL is a domestic place. The declarant deducts the post-entry leg if they can show it, and leaves it in the value if they cannot. The Incoterm on the invoice must carry the same place as the declaration.
Where does the buyer run risk under DAP?
The seller bears the transport risk, but the buyer bears the import risk. If the shipment sticks because a permit is missing, an inspection has not been pre-notified or a goods code is wrong, the consequences are the buyer's. The truck may have arrived, but without release nothing is unloaded and demurrage starts. That means the buyer must have the documents on time. For fresh produce or goods subject to inspection that is not a formality: a pre-notification in TRACES-NT usually has to be there a working day before arrival. Agree which documents the seller supplies and when, because without invoice, packing list and certificate the buyer cannot do their part. The buyer must also be able to act as declarant themselves, or have a representative. DAP to a party without an EORI number or without a power of attorney produces a shipment that arrives and cannot be cleared. Check that before the first truck leaves, not only when it stands at the gate.
How does DAP appear on the import declaration?
On the import declaration you enter DAP as the delivery term, with the named place of destination. That place lies in the country of import. Customs reads from that that the invoice price already contains the carriage to that place, including the stretch after the external border, and that that inland stretch may be deducted if it appears separately. Without a split on the invoice or the contract of carriage the whole DAP price stays in the customs value. At an audit Customs asks for the build-up, and a seller who only works with a total price does not supply that build-up. Put the split as an invoice requirement in the purchase contract, not as a request after the event. DAP says nothing about duties and VAT. You do not show those as part of the price and you do not deduct them, because they are not in it. Do not confuse DAP with DDP on the declaration: a DDP price contains duties and VAT that must come off, a DAP price does not. The wrong code produces a customs value corrected in the wrong direction.
Which documents and pitfalls belong with DAP?
The seller supplies invoice, packing list, export declaration and the transport document to the named place. The buyer files the import declaration and needs those papers before the shipment arrives, plus any certificates and permits that belong with the goods code. An insurance certificate is not mandatory; the seller insures for their own account if they wish. The first pitfall is a place that is too vague, so it is unclear whether the shipment has been delivered at the terminal, at customs or at the buyer's warehouse. The second is documents that only arrive after arrival, so the buyer cannot complete import in time and pays demurrage for a truck the seller sent. The third pitfall is agreeing DAP while the buyer cannot handle the import. A small customer without EORI, without a representative and without knowledge of inspections gets a shipment they cannot get off the quay. In that situation DDP is the term that lets the seller do the import, or the buyer must authorise a forwarder in advance.