Export & Import
Moving goods and services across a border.
At Matt and Zen we act for New Zealand businesses selling overseas, and for overseas businesses selling into New Zealand.
Most of what decides an export or import arrangement is in the contract: where risk passes, who insures, when payment is due, and what happens when a shipment is late, short or damaged.
The questions nobody asks at the start are whose law applies and where a dispute would be heard. Those are cheap to settle in the agreement and expensive to argue about afterwards.
Scope
We can assist with the following, and more.
Agreements
- Cross-border supply agreements
- Distribution, agency and reseller arrangements
- Incoterms, and where title and risk actually pass
- Term, exclusivity and territory
Getting paid
- Payment terms and security
- Letters of credit
- Retention of title clauses
- Recovering a debt from an overseas counterparty
Rules that apply
- Export controls and restricted goods
- Requirements in the destination market
- Sanctions screening
- Obligations that follow the goods rather than the seller
When it goes wrong
- Short, late or damaged shipments
- Disputes with an overseas counterparty
- Which country’s law and courts apply
- Enforcing an outcome in another country
Governing law
Decide whose law applies before you need to know.
A cross-border contract that does not say which country’s law governs it, and where a dispute is heard, leaves both to be argued at the worst possible moment.
It matters more than it sounds. A judgment obtained in one country is not automatically enforceable in another, and winning somewhere the other party holds nothing is an expensive result.
We settle governing law, jurisdiction and enforcement at the drafting stage, when it costs a conversation.
Questions
Frequently asked questions.
What are Incoterms and do they matter?
Standard trade terms that fix where risk and cost pass between seller and buyer. They matter enormously, and the wrong one quietly moves liability onto you.
Our customer is overseas and has not paid. What now?
It depends on what the contract says about law and jurisdiction, and on whether the customer has assets anywhere you can reach. We look at both before recommending anything.
Do we need a written distribution agreement?
Yes, particularly where exclusivity or a territory is involved. Verbal distribution arrangements tend to end badly and expensively.
Whose law should the contract be under?
Usually New Zealand law if you can get it, but not always. What matters more is that the clause is deliberate rather than inherited from a template.
What is retention of title?
A clause keeping ownership with you until payment is made. Useful, and more effective when drafted properly and applied consistently.
Can you work with our freight forwarder and broker?
Yes. They handle the movement and the clearance. We deal with the agreement behind it and the obligations it creates.