Security and Privacy Essay Example for Free

Security and Privacy Essay Introduction Identity theft is becoming very easy due to technological advancements. Protecting patient information must include all efforts from medical facilities, employees, and consumers. Society has the right to be protected from any misuse of personal data. An effective protective program starts with front-end preventive safeguards and ends with follow-through that reaches wherever incorrect information has flowed Identity theft has become a very popular topic for the past decade or so, the number of complaints has increased and is costing more than anyone wants to be spending on that issue. The Federal Trade commission estimates that as many as nine million Americans have their identity stolen each year, resulting in over 50 billion dollars of financial loss (Mercuri, 2006). Very common on Television to hear news and commercials warning about identity theft or some company trying to sell their services, helping in the fight to prevent it. In this paper, there will be discussions on the disadvantages of the break in privacy dealing with identity theft and on possible action plan to prevent the incident. What are your Reactions? Identity theft is a fraud that occurs when one identity is taken away and used in order to gain services or something usually of financial nature. Criminal identity theft occurs when a victim’s name, address, and mostly social security number is used by a different individual other than the actual owner. Oftentimes, the imposter would obtain that information from someone with access to a data bank where personal information is stored; it may be a hospital, social security department, company that collects data for the purpose of providing financial services. The information may be sold and used to open accounts, gain access to services fraudulently, which the actual owner, a victim of the theft will be charged for. Though many have tried to find ways to prevent and fight that kind of invasion of privacy, it  remains an issue and a very expensive one. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in United States; it affects 13 persons per minute, 799 per hour, or 19,178 per da y (Mercuri, 2006). When it comes to personal identity theft, elaborate steps must be taken to repair identity, all creditors and banks must be contacted in order to freeze accounts and limit the damages. Any financial activities that were not approved should be reversed and investigated and any opened accounts closed. New identification cards should be provided, depending on the extent of the situation legal counseling may be necessary. Whichever way it happens, identity theft remains a burden for all not only individuals, but also for companies who carry the burden of screening employees in order to protect their customers from such occurrence. No one would welcome such calamity, not only the loss of privacy, the financial burden, but more so the trauma of not being able to prevent it completely. What are the Disadvantages of the Break in Privacy? The disadvantages of the break in privacy are for the hospital as well as the victims. Big corporations are kept accountable for all data collected from their clients and are liable for any misuse of that information no matter the use. Personal information are trusted to be used for an individual benefits in the process securing a service; it should not be sold or used without consent for others benefits. Once information has been compromised, it is the duty of the corporation which allows the break to occur to remedy the problem. Remediation can be very costly, the company is liable for the break, cause analysis is necessary to find the leak and establish preventive measures. Which involves retraining personnel and maybe adding more doing the hiring, better screening process; make every one accountable for work involvement. It is a costly process but necessary. It is a federal offense and as an HIPAA violation all perpetrators will be fined, it is a mandate. Victims of identity fra ud bear the burden of regaining their identity and find any measure to prevent future occurrence. Such fraud creates a financial burden, all major federal instutions such as social security department, internal revenue services, banks and creditors must be informed of the fraudulent act before identity can be restored. All activities under the victim name must be verified and investigated, that will require to work with the fraud departments of all banks where accounts  was opened or compromised. It can be very costly not only to restore identity, but also mostly once the damages are discovered it will take a lot of time and money to correct the wrong done. The federal trade commission must be contacted; they collect information that is shared with law enforcement agency investigating identity fraud. Consumer Credit reporting agencies must be informed and a credit reports requested to investigate whether the victim history has been compromised. The motor vehicle and passport agency must be contacted as well, in such a case all possible areas must investigated for possible damages. It takes time and resources to correct break in privacy. Medical identity theft may be very difficult to discover, an individual my not have any idea that he or she has been the victim until late and the damages result in a mounts of debts and loss of revenue for providers and insurers. One victim hired an attorney to sort out the damage to her records. She avoided the hospital where the identity thief was treated, because of the inaccuracies in her health record as a result of the medical identity theft (AHIMA, 2008). What are the Possible Actions Plans to prevent the Incident? Preventing any incident requires individuals as well as corporations to be very diligent in safeguarding personal data. It requires a team effort on the part of all parties, corporations must be willing to put in place the necessary resources in the respect, although the first line of defense rest with the individuals seeking services. Some of the preventive measures include, but not limited to: Share personal and health insurance information only with trusted providers. * Monitor the explanation of benefits received from insurers and obtaining a summary of all the benefits paid in the patient’s or guarantor’s name. * Question â€Å"free† medical services or treatments. Individuals should always question what is being offered and who is paying the cost. If not satisfied with the answers, they should decline the offer. * Protect health insurance information. Individuals should safeguard insurance cards, explanation of benefits, and health plan correspondence in th e same way they would safeguard credit cards. * Obtain and maintaining personal health records that include copies of significant health information from each healthcare provider (O’Brien, 2008). Furthermore it is very important that every hospitals or any  corporations having access to individuals personal data, to empower every consumer to be very diligent about personal data. It is necessary educate the public about the threat of identity theft. Increase awareness of the consequences and prevention measures. Institute sophisticated security monitoring measures and implement a broadly accepted, executive-supported information security charter for effective security policy and governance (American Health Management Association, [AHIMA], 2008). HIPAA rules require that a risk analysis of any system be conducted that would address administrative, technical and physical safeguards. HIPAA security rule does not focus on technology but administration (American Health Management Association, [AHIMA], AHIMA, 2008). It requires that any data collected of consumers be protected according to its security rule. Corporations must develop guidelines that protect consumers, but also that would minimize employee’s incidents of mismanagement of data. The process should start from hiring, to training and setting up steps that would raise red flags with any questionable occurrence. Conclusion Medical identity theft is becoming very complex and must involve the effort of all consumers, providers and insurers to battle and prevent occurrences. Consumer involvement is very important and necessary, they must be made aware of the threat to their privacy and educate on ways to prevent any occurrence. The public deserves to be protected from any mismanagement of personal data, it incumbents on every corporation to put in place process that safeguards all data collected. An effective protective program starts with front-end preventive safeguards and ends with follow-through that reaches wherever incorrect information has flowed (American Health Management Association, [AHIMA], 2008). References American Health Management Association, [AHIMA]. â€Å"Online, On Message, On Duty: Privacy Experts Share Their Challenges.† April 2008. Available online in the FORE Library: HIM Body of Knowledge at www.ahima.org. American Health Management Association, [AHIMA] e-HIM Work Group on Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs). â€Å"Using the SSN as a Patient Identifier.† Journal of AHIMA 77, no. 3 (Mar. 2006): 56A–D. Retrieved from www.ahima.org Mercuri, R. T. (2006, June). Security Watch: Scoping identity theft. Communications of the ACM, Retrieved from: www.citeseerx.ist.psu.edu O’Brien, Jenny. â€Å"Responding to Identity Theft: One Organization’s Effort to Turn a Negative Event into a Positive Result.† Journal of AHIMA 79, no. 4 (Apr. 2008): 40–41. Retrieved from www.ahima.org

The Educational Benefits of Video Games Essay -- Persuasive Teaching E

The Educational Benefits of Video Games The repetition of the statement claiming that video games do not help children in their educational enterprises is unfair. There have been numerous studies conducted providing evidence that children gain structural knowledge while engaging in video game play (Pillay 2002). Certainly, different styles of video games may produce different results. It is important for us to understand the different benefits from the various styles of games. Because students play a wide variety of games, they may have a repertoire of schemas with different information (Pillay 2002). Visual Skills A majority of the studies conducted discussed results regarding visual skills. The appreciation of visual skill increase is attributed primarily to action video games. Due to the number of varied tasks, the demands may result in brain changes and improve visual skills. Action video games could be used in the treatment programs of people with visual problems (Chudler 2003). They may increase children’s hand-eye coordination and attention to detail (Cesarone 1994). Action video gamers tend to be more attune to their surroundings. Medal of Honor is one game highly recommended to increase visual attentiveness. Studies of those who played this game show they could drive down the street and more likely identify a child that was running after a ball than a non-video gamer (Roach 2003). Researchers Greene and Bavelier at the University of Rochester in New York conducted a study and had students play action video games. The students had to play four days a week for six months. Those who were trained playing the video games:  · Had better visual skills and visual attention  · ... ... simulation. Retrieved October 1, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://creativeteachingsite.com/videogames.htm. Pillay, H. (2002). An investigation of cognitive processes engaged in by recreational computer game players: implications for skills of the future. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34.3, 336-350. Roach, J. (2003, May). Video games boost visual skills, study finds. National Geographic News. Retrieved October 1, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0528_030528_videogames. html. Rosas, R., Nussbaum, M., Cumsille, P., Marinov, V., Correa, M., Flores, P., Grau, V., Lagos, F., Lopez, X., Lopez, V., Rodriguez, P. & Salinas, M. (2003). Beyond nintendo: design and assessment of educational video games for first and second grade students. Computers & Education, 40.1, 71-94.

A Comparative Study of Norman Holland and David Bleich Essay

Reader Response criticism is a general term that refers to different approaches of modern criticism and literary theory that focuses on the responses of readers and their reactions to the literary text. It also, in M.H Abrams’ words, â€Å"does not designate any one critical theory, but a focus on the process of reading a literary text that is shared by many of the critical modes†(268). Reader Response criticism is described as a group of approaches to understanding literature that explicitly emphasize the reader’s role in creating the meaning an experience of a literary work. It refers to a group of critics who study, not a literary work, but readers or audiences responding to that literary work. It has no single starting point. They seriously challenge the dominancy of the text-oriented theories such as New Criticism and Formalism. Reader Response theory holds that the reader is a necessary third part in the author-text-reader relationship that constitutes the literary work. The relationship between readers and text is highly evaluated. The text does not exist without a reader; they are complementary to each other. A text sitting on a shelf does nothing. It does not come alive until the reader conceives it. Reader Response criticism encompasses various approaches or types. Of theses types is the ‘Subjectivist’ Reader Response criticism, which embraces critics such as David Bleich, Norman Holland, who are my focus in this paper, and Robert Crossman. Those critics view the reader’s response not as one guided by text but as one motivated by a deep-seated, personal psychological needs. They also are called ‘Individualists’. As they think that the reader’s response is guided by his psychological needs, therefore some of them, like Norman Holland, have a psychoanalytic view of that response. In the psychoanalytic view the reader responses to the literary work in a highly personal way. The real meaning of the text is the meaning created by the individual’s psyche. Lawrence Shaffer defines Psychoanalytic Criticism as â€Å"an approach to literary criticism, influenced by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, which views a literary work as an expression of the unconscious- of the individual psyche of its author or of the collective unconscious of a society or of the whole human race† (44). Reader Response critics have applied the psychoanalytical view to their analysis of the experience of reading a work. Namely; they focus on the psyche of the reader. Prominent among those who applied the psychoanalytical view is the American critic Norman Holland. Born in Manhattan in1927, Holland is an American literary critic and theorist who has focused on human responses to literature, film, and other arts. He is known for his work in Psychoanalytic criticism and Reader Response criticism. Holland began his Psychoanalytic writings with Psychoanalysis and Shakespeare (1966). In which he made a survey of what psychoanalytic writers has said about Shakespeare. He urged psychoanalytic critics to study real people, the audience and readers of literature, rather than imaginary characters. His contribution to Reader Response criticism was great. He has written about† the way self (reader) interacts with world (text) in four books: The Dynamics of Literary Response (1968), Poems in Persons (1973), 5 Readers Reading (1979), and Laughing: A Psychology of Humor (1982)† (Berg 266). According to Holland there are three explanation-models in Reader Response Theory. First, ‘text-active’ model, in which â€Å"the text defines the response†. The second model he calls â€Å"reader-active†, in which readers create meanings, and undergo the reading experience by exploring the text and all its items. â€Å"Word forms, word meanings, syntax, grammar, on up to complex individual ideas about character, plot, genre, themes, or values†(Holland). Thus the reader explores and interprets the text. Most who pioneered this view like Holland are Americans such as David Bleich, Stanley Fish, and Louise Rosenblatt. The third model is a compromise, and Holland calls it ‘bi-active’, in which the text causes part of the response and the reader the rest. Holland thinks that a ‘reader-active’ model is right. He believes that it explains likeness and difference in reading. â€Å"Similarities come from similar hypotheses formed by gender, class, education, race, age, or ‘interpretive community'† (Holland). While the difference come from differing hypotheses that result from individual beliefs, opinions and values, i.e. one’s ‘identity’. Holland considers a ‘test-active’ model is wrong, and therefore a ‘bi-active’ model is also wrong as it is half wrong and consequently all wrong. Holland suggests that â€Å"when we interpret a text, we unconsciously † react to our identity themes. To defend ourselves against our † fears and wishes, we transform the work in order to relieve psychic pressures† (Shaffer 48). Literature allows us to recreate our identities and to know ourselves as Holland deduced after the ‘Delphi seminar’, in which he worked at the State University of New York at Buffalo with other critics such as Robert Rogers, David Willbern and others. The ‘ Delphi seminar’ was designed to get students know themselves. The reader’s re-creation of his identity could happen when he transact with the text in four ways: â€Å"defense, expectation, fantasy, and transformation, which Holland reduces to the acronym ‘DEFT’ † (Newton, Interpreting Text 144). Defenses are ways of copying with inner and outer reality, particularly conflicts between different psychic agencies and reality. Holland thinks that we defend in many ways; we repress our fears and our painful thoughts or feelings, we deny sensory evidence or we isolate one emotion or idea from another. Expectations are our fears and wishes.Fantacies is what the individual puts out from himself into the outside world. In the ‘Delphi seminar’ Holland and the rest of critics â€Å"help[ed] students discover how they each bring a personal style (identity) to reading, writing, learning, and teaching† (Newton, Twentieth-Century 208). The seminar discussed the texts and also their associations, but focused on the associations. Students mastered the subject matter, and also saw how people re-create or develop a personal ‘identity’. Each student had great insight to himself, and his characteristic ways with text and people. Holland thinks that † just as the existence of a child constitutes the existence of a mother and the existence of a mother constitutes the existence of a child, so, in identity theory, all selves and objects constitute one another† (Newton, Twentieth-Century 208). So, I think the existence of a text constitutes the existence of a reader and vice versa, and the understanding of the text constitutes an understanding of self as well. In The Dynamics of Literary Response (1968), Holland was interested in the fact that texts embody fantasies. Later on, his thinking about texts reversed and he inferred that it is the reader who makes fantasies which [s]he transforms or projects onto the literary text. â€Å"People internalize differently because they internalize †¦ according to a core identity theme† (Berg 267). In Poems in Persons (1973), Holland explains that readers create the text, and he also questions the objectivity of the text. In this book Holland suggests that a poem â€Å"is nothing but specks of carbon black on dried wood pulp†, and suggests that these specks have nothing to do with people, yet â€Å"people who do thing to these specks† (Berg 267). When we â€Å"introject literary work we create in ourselves a psychological transformation†, where we feel as if it were within the text or the work yet it is not. This takes us to Holland’s ‘transactional’ model in which the reader initiates and creates the response. Holland saw that reading is a ‘transactional’ process in which the reader and the text mesh together. And it is a â€Å"personal transaction of the reader with the text in which there is no fundamental division between the text’s role and the reader’s role† (Newton, Interpreting Text 142), so the roles of the text dovetails with that of the reader. Holland has hired a group of students for an experiment. They read short stories and discussed them with him in interviews in which he asked questions and elicited associations. Their responses showed a more variety than he could explain. â€Å"Different readers might interpret a poem or a story differently at the level of meaning, morals, or aesthetic value. The text itself, however, was a fixed entity that elicited fairly fixed responses† (Holland). He regards the text as an objective entity and has no role in the process of interpretation. But in his next book 5 Readers Reading (1979) he gives more evidence of the subjective creation of the reader. He tried his model on actual readers. Five readers read ‘A Rose for Emily’ by Faulkner, and in the process of reading they create very different stories, â€Å"stories which inevitably reflect the identity themes of their creators† (Berg 267). When he listened to their understandings of a given character or event or phrase, he found them invariably different. Their emotional responses were diverse. So, the idea that there is a fixed or appropriate response was an illusion. Holland deduces that fantasies, structures, and forms do not exist in a literary work as he previously conceived, but they exist in the individual reader’s re-creation of the text. Holland thinks that â€Å"each person reads differently, and this difference stems from personality† (Newton, Twentieth-Century 204). Holland found that he could understand the reader’s differing responses by reading their identities. And he could explain their different reactions to the poem or short story by looking to their identity themes, as their patters of defences, expectations, fantasies, and transformations will help. The transformational model of his Dynamics was correct, but it was the reader who does the transformation and not the text. The text was only a raw material. So Holland arrives at the deduction that people who have fantasies after his previous assumption that text embody fantasies. Holland’s thinking about texts reversed after David Bleich’s proddi ng who insisted that texts do not have fantasies, people do. To understand a literary work, Holland claims that you should perceive it through the lens of some human perception, either your own experience, or someone else, or even a critic’s analysis of the work. These perceptions vary from individual to individual, from community to community, and from culture to culture. He thinks that one cannot perceive the raw, naked text, as he can only perceive it through some one else’s process of perception. Thus Holland claims that â€Å"if readers’ free responses to texts are collected they [will] have virtually nothing in common† (Newton, Interpreting Text 143). According to Holland the relation between the ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ is undifferentiated and can not be separated. For there is a ‘transactional’ process of interpretation where the roles of the reader and the text are intertwined, and the line dividing them blurs and dissolves. He thinks that readers should accept interpretation as a ‘transaction’ between the reader’s unique ‘identity’ and the text. Holland, however, does not want to take the side of the objective or that of the subjective, yet he is looking for a vanishing point between them, and wants to make both text and reader meet at an intersection of interpretation. David Bleich (1936-) is a Jewish critic, a son of a rabbi, a professor of Talmud, and a Subjectivist Reader Response critic. In Subjective Reader Response, the text is subordinated to the individual reader. The subject becomes the individual reader as he reacts to the text and reveals himself in the act of reading. For example, when a reader is addressed with a story of a father who ignores his child, then the intensity of that reader’s reaction may lay it his/her conflicted relation with his own father. Subjective criticism has been attacked as being too relativistic. Defenders of this approach point out that literature must work on a personal, emotional level to move us powerfully. David Bleich takes an approach differs from Holland’s. H is primary concern in his book Readings and Feelings is pedagogy rather than psychology. He thinks that â€Å"reading is a wholly subjective process†(Rabinowitz 86), and that the different or competing interpretation can be negotiated and settled. He examines the ways in which meanings or interpretations are constructed in a class room community, â€Å"with particular emphasis on the ways in which a group can negotiate among competing interpretations†(86). In Readings and Feelings, Bleich presents† a detailed account of his teaching techniques during a typical semester†(Berg 269). That’s why he is concerned with pedagogy and not psychology. He introduces himself to his class and discusses the way he wants his students to look at literature. The first preliminary sessions were designed to help students be acquainted with their subjective feelings, and how to depict them. Even the â€Å"idiosyncratic personal responses† of the students are accepted and discussed sympathetically. With the students Bleich plunges into different literary genres including poetry, short story, and novel. Yet before discussing these genres, â€Å"Bleich wants his students to be as personal as possible when they discuss poetry. He wants their affective responses, their free associations, any anecdotal material that occurs to them† (Berg 269). Bleich focuses on questions such as what is â€Å"the most important word, the most important passage, or the most important aspect of a story† (269). Thus, he believes that his students move from the personal to the interpersonal and then to the social. The cause of these movements is not â€Å"the change in genre†¦; but the tenor of the questions Bleich asks†(269) is what guides the movement. Shaffer says that â€Å"In Subjective Criticism (1978), Bleich assumes that ‘each person’s most urgent motivations are to understand himself’ and that all ‘objective’ interpretations are derived ultimately from subjective responses† (Shaffer 48). Like Norman Holland, Bleich focuses on the subconscious responses of the readers to the text, including his â€Å"emotional responses, our infantile, adolescent, or simply ‘gut’ responses† (Berg 268). According to Bleich the interpretation of texts or the personal responses to texts are in a way or another motivated. Namely; we are motivated by certain things to make a certain interpretation or response to a literary work in particular or a work of art in general. Our interpretations are a motivated activities, and â€Å"any act of interpretation, or meaning-conferring activity is motivated, and†¦it is important for us to understand the motives behind our interpretations†(270). Bleich suggests that only way to figure out and determine these motivations behind our interpretations of texts is to â€Å"took our subjective responses to texts †¦where each reader’s response receives the same respect†(270). A sheer desire to self-understanding and self-knowledge is what motivates us as readers. We interpret in order to gain â€Å"some kind of knowledge which will resolve some difficulty†, or we do it to â€Å"explain something that was puzzling us†(270). Bleich goes further and says that â€Å"if a certain set or school of interpretation prevails; it is not because it is closer to an objective truth about art†(Newton, Twentieth-Century 234). If a community of students agreed upon certain interpretation to a given text, then â€Å"the standard truth†¦can only devolve upon the community of students†(234). So, when students come up with a consensus reading of a certain text, and agree unanimously upon its interpretation, then their subjective feeling and values are the same. Thus the literary text â€Å"must come under the control of subjectivity; either an individual’s subjectivity or the collective subjectivity of a group†(233). The group comes up with a consensus after discussing their personal responses with each other and negotiates ideas and individual responses. This idea of negotiation that Bleich introduces helps the group weighs and discusses each one’s own responses â€Å"in order to come to a group decision†(Berg 271). Then Bleich says that† critics and their audiences assume interpretive knowledge to be†¦as objective as formulaic knowledge†(Newton 232). The assumption of the objectivity of a text is almost â€Å"a game played by critics (232). Critics know the fallacy of the objectivity of a text, and believe in critical pluralism, namely; allowing multiple interpretations of the same work. Bleich does not ignore or deny the objectivity of the text or a work of literature. But text is an object that is different from other objects as it is a ‘symbolic’ object. A text is not just a group o words written in ink on a sheet of paper. It, unlike other objects, has no function in its material existence. For example, an apple is an object that its existence does not depend on whether someone eats it or sees it, however, a text’s or a book’s existence â€Å"does depend on whether someone writes it and reads it† (Newton 233). The work of literature is a response to the author’s life experience, and the interpretation of the reader the response to his reading experience. The reader’s subjective interpretation creates an understanding to the text. Through this transaction between the reader and the text, I think we can come across with an understanding of literature and of people as well. This artistic transaction helps to blur and dissolve the dividing line between the subjective and objective. It is idle as Bleich found â€Å"to imagine that we can avoid the entanglements of subjective reactions and motives†(Newton, Twentieth-Century 235). As our motive in our subjective interpretations is our desire to self-knowledge and self-understanding, then the study of ourselves and the study of the literary work are ultimately a single enterprise. Though Holland and Bleich are Individualist Reader Response critics, they have different views in particular issues. Norman Holland thinks that in order to understand a student’s or a reader’s interpretation of a text he should examine his psyche and uncover his ‘identity theme’. Bleich takes a different position. He is concerned with pedagogy rather that psychology, therefore he examines the ways in which meanings are constructed, and how a group of readers could negotiate interpretations. Holland suggests that the reader’s role is intermingling with that of the text. The reader re-creates the text influenced by his/her subjective responses and introjects his/her fantasies on the literary work. Through this transaction with the text we re-create our identities, and our identity themes provide individual differences in interpretations, and the result is a wide array of interpretations that allow us to explore many responses. Bleich denies Holland’s ‘identity theme’. He thinks that interpretations are not an outcome of our differing identity themes, but they are a result of our motives, feelings, and preoccupations. Holland’s Delphi seminar helped students or readers know their selves and discover that each one of them can bring a personal style (identity) to reading. So, the issue of self-discovery or self-knowledge is agreed upon by Holland and Bleich as well, however their ways of achieving it differ. Holland does not side with either the subjective or the objective split, yet he is looking for a vanishing point between them. In his Dynamics he used to consider the text as an objective reality, or a raw material. Yet the role of the reader combines that of the text in a transactional process of reading and interpretation. Thus there is no fundamental division between the roles of both the reader and the text, they dovetail with each other. For Bleich, the text is a ‘symbolic object’ that has no function in its material existence. The existence of text depends on whether someone writes it or reads it. So, the existence of the text and the existence of the reader is interdependent. Holland holds the same view when he says that the existence of a mother constitutes the existence of a child and vice versa, also the existence of selves constitutes the existence of objects. Thereby, the dividing line between the objective and subjective blurs and dissolves. This constitutes that we cannot ignore the entanglements of subjective reactions and motives to the objective text or to be accurate, the text which is a ‘symbolic’ object. Both critics agree on the idea of the transactional process of reading, whether by Holland’s identity themes which help reader interpret the text and understand himself, or by Bleich’s desire to self-knowledge that motivates reader to interpret the text and understand it. Both apply a transaction that leads to an understanding and interpretation of a text along with the reader’s own self. This aim of gaining knowledge and this study of ourselves and of art are ultimately a single enterprise. I think that Holland does not agree that there could be a consensus interpretation which is agreed upon by a group of readers. He thinks that each reader has his own personality or identity theme, and thereby interpretations will be multiple and diverse. While Bleich’s idea of ‘negotiation’ among readers can lead to a unanimous decision about the meaning of the literary work. The negotiation among readers enable them to express their personal feelings freely and depict their responses without the fear of being rejected. For instance, in David Bleich’s class, there is a democracy. Each reader’s response receives the same respect, and there is no underestimation of their idiosyncrasies. This helped them develop from the personal to the interpersonal and then to the social. While in Holland’s view, there can be no unanimous interpretation of a given work of art. For each reader is influenced by his/her identity theme. Also, â€Å"Holland’s subjects report their responses in terms of ‘the clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s of the various subcultures and cultural discourses work to constitute the consciousness of American college students’†¦. [Holland concludes that not] the individuality of his students but†¦the way their ‘individuality’ is in fact a’ product’ of their cultural situation†(Rabinowitz 86). In conclusion, â€Å"Holland and Bleich did not [in a way or another] negotiate a consensus; rather, by some irritated leap, Holland becomes convinced of what Bleich had to tell him†(Berg 271). Works Cited Abrams, M.H. â€Å"Reader-Response Criticism.† Glossary of Literary Terms. 6th Ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1993. Berg, Temma F. â€Å"Psychologies of Reading.† Tracing Literary Theory. Ed. Joseph Natoli. Urbana and Chicago: Illinois UP, 1987. 248-274. Holland, Norman N. â€Å"Reader-Response already is Cognitive Criticism.† Bridging the Gap. 8 Apr. 1995. Stanford University. 26 Dec. 2007 . —, â€Å"The Story of a Psychoanalytic Critic.† An Intellectual. 26 Dec. 2007 . Laga, Barry. â€Å"Reading with an Eye on Reading: An Introduction to Reader-Response.† Reader Response. 1999. 23 Dec. 2007 . Newton, K. M. â€Å"Reader Response Criticism.† Interpreting the Text: A Critical Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Literary Interpretation. Great Britain: Billing and Sons, 1990. 141-153. —, ed. â€Å"Norman Holland: Reading and Identity: A Psychoanalytic Revolution.† Twentieth-Century Literary Theory. London: Macmillan, 1989. 204-209. —, â€Å"David Bleich: The Subjective Character of The Critical Interpretation.† Twentieth-Century Literary Theory. London: Macmillan, 1989. 231-235. Rabinowitz, Peter J. â€Å"Whirl without End: Audience-Oriented Criticism.† Contemporary Literary Theory. Ed. G. Douglas Atkins and Laura Morrow. USA: Macmillan UP, 1989. 81-85. Shaffer, Lawrence. â€Å"Psychoanalytic Criticism.† Literary Criticism. 1sted. New Delhi: IVY Publishing House, 2001. 44-48.

The international sales contracts - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 19 Words: 5745 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Since 1936, the International Chamber of Commerce of Paris has published successive editions of a given set of delivery clauses with international scope, known as INCOTERMS rules. (International Commercial Terms). These were reviewed periodically in the years 1953, 1967, 1976, 1980, 1990 and last edition in 2000. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The international sales contracts" essay for you Create order Their mission is to interpret and regulate in a uniform way the negotiation of the international sales contracts. INCOTERMS 2000 edition is the result of the work of a group of 40 members of the Working Committee of the trading practices of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. For the first time, have participated representatives of U.S.A and Japan, which increased the degree of universality of the rules. INCOTERMS 2000 rules have been validated by the Executive Committee of CIC Paris and published in Publication 560 from January 1, 2000 of the same NGOs. INCOTERMS 2000 rules do not bring significant changes to the INCOTERMS 1990, but cover some shortcomings, contains a more concise, more precise and give more certainty for exporters and importers from anywhere in the world. The interventions made are meant to clarify several issues aimed starting with the stage of negotiation and conclusion of the international sales contract. They provide a common language for business on any market and in almost any country. Are accepted as such in EU countries, other countries of free trade areas and basically entered into current use in China, the Middle East, the African and South American countries. There is however one major exception to the universality of INCOTERMS 2000 and it rules the rules RAFTD 1941 (Revised American Foreign Trade Definition 1941) still applied by many U.S. retailers. Fo r the main contrast to the INCOTERMS FOB (which has 6 variants in the American) is recommended attention to the threat of the Americans FOB contracts with partners in USA. The last INCOTERMS version was published in 2000. In any international sales contract we have the problem of establishing procedures for the delivery, the transfer of risk and the division between seller and buyer of the expenses with the transport of goods (insurance of the goods, the value of transportation). INCOTERMS are internationally accepted commercial terms defining the state and the buyers and sellers operating role in the transport of goods, ownership of goods, ensuring goods. In legal terms INCOTERMS rules are optional and dependent on the will of the parties, the partners may include in the contract other specific requirements. In a contract, the action of INCOTERMS is limited to specific rights and obligations imposed on parties for the delivery of goods sold. The realities from the international trade have shown that the implementation of each term regarding the different means of delivery, represent costs that can not be neglected, their inclusion in the contract requires clarification, is particularly important to determine who and what paid, any omission or any mentioning in this regard may diminish or even null -the benefits expected by the seller or buyer in the transaction. The delivery terms shall be regulated according to the stipulation of the contract, the commercial rules and practices. From the general terms the most important for the foreign trade are those related to the delivery conditions and the international parties. The scope and area of interest of the INCOTERMS rules: INCOTERMS represent a codification of rules or customary practice in the field of international sale of goods, customary practice which are applicable within Europe. As a juridical force, these rules are voluntary, applying only if the parties have made express reference in their contract to INCOTERMS rules. INCOTERMS rules were created to avoid any disputes that may arise from the fact that contracting parties are aware of different business practices in force in the countries of the partners. The area of action of the INCOTERMS is limited to the issues related to rights and obligations of parties to the contract of sale, regarding the delivery of goods sold. Thus, INCOTERMS relate to a number of specific obligations imposed on parties. There are 13 INCOTERMS rules, each rule is expressed by a three-letter abbreviation, which is a type of international sale of goods. The advantage of using them is that: They allow contractual time and space savings the parties, rather than negotiating the content of the sale-purchase contract obligations of the seller and the buyer, negotiating only the type of sale, meaning the INCOTERMS rule which intends to apply . The safety, security of the transaction, however as well as the parties negotiate such a contract can not remove the risk of inconsistency between the different terms, the INCOTERMS rules, being the work of specialists, eliminate completely this risks. The structure of INCOTERMS: In the set of rules, INCOTERMS 2000, the merchants can negotiate a total of 13 clauses, of which they choose a single one , which they enter into a contract for complying to it. Each delivery condition of INCOTERMS has a name and an abbreviation of its standard, a logo consisting of three capital letters. Basically, the international sales purchase contract, the delivery condition choosed is indicated by the logo (abbreviation) thereof, supplemented by the place name (critical point) at which the parties agreed to transfer costs, risk and ownership. In 1990, the conditions were grouped into four categories, grouping which has been preserved and after the changes and additions from 2000. Group E departure- conprises one condition: EXW Ex Works Ex works means that the seller fullfils its delivery obligation in the moment in which he puts the merchandise at the buyers disposal in its premises or in other place named( factory,plant,warehouse), without accomplishing the export formalities and without loading the goods in a vehicle sent to pick them up. The condition E is the condition in which the sellers obligations are minimum so that this only has to put the goods at the selers disposal at the convened place. Group F main carriage not paid by the seleer- comprises 3 conditions: FCA Free carrier- Free Carrier means that the seller fullfils its delivery obligation in the moment he has turned in the goods at the named place, with the export formalities accomplished, to the carrier named by the buyer. The buyer can put the seller to deliver the good to other person than the carrier. FAS Free Alongside Ship the seller fulfills its delivery obligation when the goods have been placed alongside the vessel in the expedition port named. The buyer will support all costs and risks of loss and waste of the goods at that moment. The seller has the obligation to accomplish the formalities for export. FOB Free On Board the seller fulfills its delivery obligation when the goods have crossed the shipstrails in the expedition port named. From that moment on the buyer will support all costs and risks of loss and waste of the goods. This condition asks the seller to clear customs at export and can be used only for the transportation of goods on sea or internal waterway. The conditions from F group oblige the seller to deliver the good for transportation according to the decision of the buyer. Group C Main carriage paid by seller- comprises 4 conditions: CFR Cost and Freight- it means that the buyer has fulfilled its delivery obligation when the goods cross the ship rail in the expedition port. The seller has the obligation to pay the costs and the freight necessary for taking the goods in the destination port named. The CFR condition obliges the seller to clear customs for export. This condition can be used only for transportation on seal or on internal waterway. CIF Cost,Insurance and Freight it means that the seller fulfills its delivery obligation in the moment in which the goods cross the ship rail in the port of expedition. The seller is obliged to pay costs and freight necessary to bringing the goods in the destination port, and the risks of loss or waste of goods, other additional costs due to future events to the delivery are transferred from the seller to the buyer. According to this condition, the seller has the obligation to purchase the marine insurance against the buyers risk of loss or deterioration of the goods during transportation. CPT Carriage Paid TO the buyer has to support all the risks and any other costs after the goods have been delivered. CIP Carriage and Insurance Paid To this condition can be used for any mean of transportation, inclusively multimodal transport. The condition transport and insurance paid until.. means the buyer delivers the goods to the named carrier having the obligation to pay the transportation cost for bringing the goods to the named destination. The buyer will support all risk and any additional costs after the goods have been delivered. Conditions contained in the group C require the seller to contract carriage as is customary, and at its own expense. Group D Arrival includes 5 conditions: DAF Delivered At Frontier means that the seller fulfills his delivery obligation when the goods have been supplied to the buyer on the arrival of the means of transport unloaded, with export formalities completed, but before the import customs formalities are completed in the place called the border point. This condition can be used irrespective to the mean of transport when goods are delivered at a land border. If the delivery is made at the port of destination, on board or on key is indicated for use the condition DES or DEQ. DES Delivered Ex Ship means the seller fulfills his delivery obligation when the goods are placed at the disposal of the buyer on board of the ship, at the port of destination named, without clearing customs at import. This condition can be used only if the goods are to be delivered by sea, by waterway or multimodal transport on a vessel in the port of destination. DEQ Delivered Ex Quay means the seller fulfills his delivery obligation when the goods are put at the buyers disposal, without clearing customs for import for import, on the quay at the port of destination named. The seller has to bear costs and risks involved in bringing the goods in the named port of destination and unloading the goods on the quay (pontoon). Provided DEQ requires the buyer to fulfill customs formalities for the import of goods and pay all formalities, taxes and fees and other expenses related to the import of goods. This condition can be used only if the goods are to be delivered by sea or by waterway or multimodal transport by downloading from the ship on the quay at the port of destination. DDP Delivered Duty Paid If you use this condition, the seller will deliver the goods to the buyer by fulfilling import formalities and unloaded on arrival in any mean of transportation, at the appointed destination. The seller will bear all the costs that are involved in bringing the goods there, including, where applicable, any duty for import in the destination country. DDP is provided with maximum obligation for the seller. This condition should not be used if the seller can not directly or indirectly obtain the import licenses. DDU Delivery Duty Unpaid means the seller delivers the goods to the buyer, without the formalities for import and not unloaded from arriving in any means of transport at the named destination. The seller supports costs and risks involved in bringing the goods there, other than, where applicable, any duty for import in the destination country. The conditions from group D establish the sellers responsibility for the arrival of goods at the point of destination agreed at the border or within the territory of the importing country. The seller has to bear all the risks and costs of transportation of goods at destination. Conditions D are contracts of arrival, unlike the terms C which are contracts of departure (shipment). For an easier distinction between the extent of obligations undertaken by the contracting parties in the INCOTERMS rules 2000 it has been introduced a new concept regarding the time and place of sale. Thus, a notice of the type Sale to departure indicates that, during the main transportation, the risk is assumed by the buyer, while the notice sale on arrival requires that the same risk will fall to the seller. In the category Sale to departure have been assigned the following INCOTERMS 2000 conditions: EXW, FCA, FOB, CFR, CIF, CPT and CIP. The category Sale on arrival included conditions: DAF, DES, DEQ, DDU and DDP. In some cases, the preamble INCOTERMS rules recommend the use or non use of a certain condition, which is particularly important in particular with reference to the choice between FCA and FOB. The rights and obligations of parties in the sale-purchase contract: As stated, the area of action of the INCOTERMS is limited to issues related to rights and obligations of the parties to sale-purchase contract with regard to the delivery of goods sold. Thus, INCOTERMS refer to a series of specific obligations imposed on parties. The sellers obligations relate to: the supply of goods under the contract, the obligation for obtaining licenses, permits and carrying out other formalities, the obligation regarding the conclusion of contracts of transportation and insurance, the obligation to deliver goods, transfer risks, sharing costs, the obligation to notice the buyer, the obligation to prove delivery, the obligation to check, pack and mark goods, other obligations. The buyers obligations relate to: the obligation to pay the price, the obligation to obtain the import licenses or other official authorization and to meet, where appropriate, the customs formalities required to import goods, the obligation to terminate the contract of carriage and insurance ; the obligation of taking over the goods, transfer risks, sharing costs, the obligation to warn the seller, the obligation to accept the proof of delivery, transportation document or the electronic message, the obligation to examine the goods, other obligations. As apparent in figure no. 1 in the EXW case, this is a price without the inclusion of transportation and other expenses related to delivery, for the price to increase progressively with costs related to internal transport (FOB), international sea shipping (CIF / CAF), etc.. In the same position are increasing the seller obligations to pay costs of delivery and risk. Also, for meeting with the contractual obligations by the two parties it is important to clearly establish the delivery term. This is the moment of achieving the delivery, handing all the merchandise from the seller to the buyer. The date or period expressing the delivery term has to be always formulated in accordance with the specificity of the delivery and negotiated delivery condition. When establishing this term the sellers needs and buyers possibilities are taken into consideration. Usually, contracting takes place before the merchandise are produced, which means that the delivery term has to take into consideration the specificity of the production process. In practice more types of delivery terms are used: determined delivery term, which can be cert or indicative; the cert delivery term is established with maximum of precision; it is used in all the situations where the seller can establish the period of time of all the activities accompanying the delivery, up to the moment wh en the merchandise has to be handed to the buyer; determinable delivery term it cannot be established when signing the contract, and it will establish only the conditions that have to be achieved or in accordance with the delivery term. The obligation of the seller to deliver goods under the contract the seller is obliged to deliver the goods and once with them the commercial invoice or an equivalent electronic message in accordance with the sale-purchase contract. The seller shall provide any other evidence of conformity which may be required in the contract. The INCOTERMS delivery conditions play a vital role in concluding contracts between parties from different countries, having an important role in the ongoing international transactions. They allow rigorous determination of the responsibilities of seller and buyer in conducting the operations involved in delivery: packaging goods, warehousing for export, loading on transport vehicle, customs formalities for export, mainly transport, insurance during transport mainly, import customs formalities, unloading at factory or warehouse of destination, in the table below are listed the obligations relating to operations, the obligation transpose in the costs incurred and which are reflected in the contract price. Licenses, authorizations and formalities the seller is obliged to pay the buyer on his request all the assistance to obtain, where appropriate, any export license or other official permits, required for export goods. The only rule Icoterms where the costs of such work is borne by the buyer is EXW. This rule expresses the buyers obligation of providing to the seller an adequate proof of acquisition of goods. Proof of delivery, transportation document or equivalent electronic message at its expense, the seller must provide the buyer, the document used to prove delivery of goods. If it is the transport document, the seller has the obligation to provide the customer, upon his request, at the his risk and expense, all the assistance in obtaining a transport document. Email replaces the document provided if the seller and buyer have agreed to communicate electronically. In the case of EXW condition is not mandatory this proof, but the parties may stipulate in the concluded contract the sellerobligation to make this proof. In the case of DAF condition, if the parties agree to continue transportation beyond the border, the seller has the obligation to provide the buyer, upon his request, at the his risk and expense, a transportation document directly, normally obtained in the country of dispatch, covering in normal way the transportation of goods from the dispatch point in that country at the final destination of the importing country, named by the buyer. Checking, packaging, marking The seller is obliged to pay all costs of those checking operations, quality checking, measuring, weighing, counting. These operations are necessary for making the goods available to the buyer. The seller has also the obligation to pack the goods in a proper transportation, but only to the extent to which the circumstances regarding the transportation reached his attention before the contract of sale-purchase has been concluded. Inspection of goods If the contract does not provide otherwise, the costs of inspections of goods, made before shipment will be borne by the buyer, unless the inspection mandated by the authorities of the exporting country. If the inspection was done in order to allow the retailer to comply with mandatory provisions applicable to export goods in his own country, he will be required to pay for that inspection of goods, if the condition used is EXW the buyer will bear the costs of inspection in this case. In the case of EXW condition it is providedthe buyers obligation the condition to bear the costs of inspection also when it is mandated by the authorities of the exporting country. Other obligations The seller must give the buyer, upon his request, at the his risk and expense, every assistance to obtain any documents or equivalent electronic messages issued or transmitted in the country of delivery and / or origin which the buyer could claim for export and / or import of goods and, if necessary, for their transit through another country. At the request of the buyer, the seller is obliged to provide him with information necessary to ensure procurement. Correspondingly, the obligation of the seller, the buyer must pay all costs and expenses incurred in obtaining the documents or equivalent electronic messages mentioned above and to reimburse expenses incurred by the vendor in providing assistance. In the case of DDP condition, the seller is the one that bears all costs and charges resulting from obtaining documents and electronic messages equivalent of the kind mentioned, while the buyer is obliged to pay the seller at his request, assistance in obtaining the documents. The seller will reimburse expenses incurred by the buyer when giving assistance. Innovations brought by incoterms 2000: INCOTERMS 2000 regulations are mainly a compromise between the positions of the representatives of the two main currents in the international commerce: the new current, the reformatting one following the integration of world commercial practices for a broad opening that would allow the participation in international trades, under advantageous conditions, of all the states on the planet, and the conservatory current supported by very developed countries like the USA and Japan, who are trying to maintain some advantageous practices for them, coming from the economic supremacy position that they have earned in time. Although in comparison with INCOTERMS 1990 rules, the new technologies and international commercial practices have not changed, although the existence of some lacks and imprecision appeared and received by experts lately, have caused the drawing-up of new editions of respective regulations, with a more precise content, facilitating the success of international commercial operations with more safety for exporters and importers in all the countries in the world. INCOTERMS 2000 include 13 terms, in 4 categories. Every term is coded with three letters; the first designates the category it is a part of. While passing from the E terms to the D terms, in the order presented below, the point where risks and expenses pass from the seller to the buyer, from the producers enterprise (the EXW condition) to the receivers headquarters (DDP condition). INCOTERMS is not the only uses group in the field of international delivery terms. Thus the RAFD uses (Revised American Foreign Trade Definitions-1941), for the USA exterior commerce, speaks about the following usual terms: Ex Point of Origin and according to this delivery condition, the price is understood at the origin place, the seller is obliged to make the merchandise available for the buyer, at the agreed place and date or within the established period; FOB (named inland carrier at named inland point of departure), according to which the price is established at the inland carrier point, the seller being obliged to load the merchandise in wagons, trucks, barges, planes or other vehicles established in the contract. FAS and FAS Vessel (named port of shipment), according to which the price includes merchandise delivery expenses at the maritime ship board by or for a buyer in the harbor; C and F according to which the established price includes the transportation cost up to the destination point; CIF (cost insurance freight named point of destination), according to which the merchandise price includes the maritime insurance and other expenses up to the established destination point; Ex Dock, the selling price includes any additional expenses for delivering the merchandise on the dock, in the import harbor, with paid customs taxes. The option of applying for one or other of the delivery conditions or practices known worldwide should consider a number of criteria, such as the following: the ratio of currency and foreign currency contract for payment of transportation, insurance and other charges related to delivery; market situation and the charges of air and land transport, participation in international conventions on transport, which involves preferential rates of transport, customs outlets in markets or supplies. In the case of a saturated market, that there is a strong competition, the exporter can draw a segment of this market, providing certain conditions and importer of favor in the sense of risk and minimum expenditure that the latter must bear. In this situation, the exporter will deliver the merchandise in the DEQ or DDP conditions. There are situations in which an exporter which sells goods on a regular basis and in large quantity is a position that gives the opportunity to obtain more favorable conditions in the companys freight and insurance, to an occasional importer. Then, the exporter can accept conditions as CFR, CIF, CPT or CIP. Exporter can assume the risk during transport, choosing a delivery in which to take responsibility to a point of destination of merchandise (DAF, DES, DEQ, DDP), only to the extent that the transport system on the route chosen is well organized, the countries that it is to pass have recorded a number of relatively low labor conflicts in this area, and the danger of agglomerations in other areas or ports of destination is limited. If the exporter believes that risks to the importing country are great, they are transferred integration to importer (FAS, FOB, CFR). The government authorities can give instructions directly or indirectly, to the economic agents in the country to sell on CIF or CIP conditions, and to buy on FOB or FCA conditions. Thirdly, while not govern the transfer of ownership, INCOTERMS gives a clear solution for the problem of transfer of risk in delivering the goods in international traffic from seller to buyer. Basically, with two exceptions, the time / place of transfer of expenditure corresponds to the time / place of transfer risk. The exceptions are the CFR and CIF conditions where costs are transferred to destination (as in other conditions in Group C), while the risks are transferred to the port of shipment, for example the dispatch (as in group F). The fact that INCOTERMS are not relate to the transfer of ownership is the need to find a solution of operational rights / obligations related to goods in international traffic, according to the inability so far to establish a standard for the transfer of ownership. In fact on this issue were the different views and give different solutions. The needs of international trade require a single solution, accurate, unambiguous and easy to apply the obligations of the parties relating to the goods. The appropriate use of INCOTERMS involving from contract partners not only knowing the terms of respective conditions, but also their insertion in the contract with all necessary details, namely: Specifying geographic point where the expense and risk transfer, therefore, will be inserted in the contract not FOB, but, for example, FOB Constanta; Indication of responsibilities for handling (eg, multiple modalities of transport). INCOTERMS conditions must also be properly correlated with other rules or practices which affect the enforcement of international contract of sale, such as: the regular transmission lines (Liner Terms), port usages, specific professional rules, etc. For example we have the next case. Roblux Company delivers valves and fittings to a customer in Fes. We study the compliance with various INCOTERMS. Calculation elements: CASABLANCA CIF value: 18 440 EURO. Customs clearance: 570 EURO. Customs fees: 15% of the CIF. Local taxes: 22% of duty paid CIF. Delivery to FES: 2 210 EURO. We determine the DEQ value of the delivery and then the DDU and DDP values. What is the difference between DES and CIF INCOTERMS? The DEQ Incoterm includes overseas shipment cost, insurance costs and commodities unloading, formalities and fees. Difference between CIF and DES: the first one is a sale Incoterm at shipment, the transfer of risks being in the sellers country. The latter is a sale Incoterm at arrival, the transfer of risk being on the ship, at the destination harbour. But, the costs paid by the seller are identical: overseas shipment and insurance to the destination harbour. The two INCOTERMS are used exclusively for overseas shipment. EX and FREE group. E group. EXW EX Works ( named place). All shipment ways VD The only liability of the seller is to deliver the commodities to the buyer at its location. The seller shall not be liable for loading the commodities in the vehicle provided by the buyer, except for a contrary agreement. The buyer shall pay all the commodities delivery related fees and risks, from this point to destination. This is the minimal liability for the seller. F Group. FCA Free Carrier ( named place). All shipment ways VD. Recommendations for choosing the delivery terms: General recommendations: The state wants to save foreign currency and stimulate development of its own overseas or air shipment companies; The exporter and importer have the opportunity to conclude long-term agreements with various shipment and insurance services providers; The trader has to follow the choice of the term depending on costs minimization and providing of the best quality for its services; The choice of the term has to allow a good long-term collaboration with the partner. Use depending on the shipment way: EXW, FAC, CPT, CIP, DAF, DDU and DDP can be used for any type of shipment; FCA, CPT and CIP are used only for air and railway transport. FAS, FOB, CFR, CIF, DES, DEQ are used for overseas shipment especially for bulk commodities; FCA, CPT and CIP are used for tank shipment and Ro-Ro shipment. Depending on the shipment place: E, F, and C groups the seller complies with its shipment obligation in its country. D group, except for the DAF term the seller complies with its shipment obligation in the destination country. Best methods: Combined shipment (multimodal) the exporter wanting to improve the global cost of shipment and control multimodal transit has to use CIP, DAF, DDU or DDP term. The importer who normally wants to minimize costs and risks within the entire shipment chain, shall choose EXW or FCA terms. Conventional shipment (from harbour to harbour) the exporter shall choose the CIF term, which gives it the opportunity to ship the load with a ship or plane under national pavilion, benefiting from certain advantages from the state and arrange insurance with its own brokers. The importer shall choose the FOB term from similar reasons. Conclusions: We have noticed lately a generalization trend of, usage code that has undergone significant improvements lately. In a specialty paper published in the USA, American companies are even recommended to replace RAFTD by INCOTERMS, in order to provide greater clarity to the definition of contractual terms and for a better protection of their trade interests. INCOTERMS regulations are extending their effects upon all the stages and operations involved by commodities transfer from the supplier to the beneficiary, by expressly referring to the following elements: Sellerss obligation to deliver and purchasers obligation to receive and pay the commodities. In this way, the seller has to deliver the commodity in compliance with the agreement from the point of view of quality, quantity, delivery term and delivery spot and submit the delivery related proofs (documents), and the purchaser has to receive the commodity at the due term and pat the commodity price according to the agreement; paying the packing expenses, usually due to the seller, except for the case in which commodities are delivered without packing; quantitative and qualitative control the seller has to develop all the operations (and pay all the costs) for the control, in order to make the commodity available to the purchaser, complying with the contracting terms; establishing the passing point of the expenses and risks from the seller to the purchaser; the sellers obligation to inform the purchaser that the commodity has been placed at its disposal (or the conveyors) and if the conveyance has to be provided by the purchaser, its obligation to inform the seller upon the terms of delivering the commodity to the assigned conveyor; concluding the transport contract and acquiring the delivery related documents; acquiring other export (import) related documents: permit, origin certificate, consular invoice etc.; organization of customs clearance and paying customs tax. In conclusion, the use of INCOTERMS has various advantages for its contractual partners like: they allow to accurately establish the seller and purchasers responsibilities in developing the operations related to delivery: packing, storage for export, loading in the conveyance means, export customs formalities, import customs formalities, unloading at the destination enterprise or warehouse; establishes the parties obligations regarding the delivery documents acquiring: invoice, packing list, export licence, commodity inspection certificate, origin certificate, consular invoice, delivery document, transport document, insurance policy import licence; although it does not regulate the transfer of the ownership right, INCOTERMS gives a clear solution to the problem of risks transfer regarding the commodity delivery in international trade from the seller to the purchaser. INCOTERMS conditions have to be adequately correlated at the same time with other regulations and uses of the international sale contract, like: transport regulated lines terms (Liner Terms), harbours regulations, specific professional rules, etc. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Alexa C., Transporturi InternaÃ…Â £ionale, Editura ASE, BucureÃ…Å ¸ti, 2003; Baicu M., TranzacÃ…Â £ii economice internaÃ…Â £ionale. Fundamentarea Ã…Å ¸i contractarea unei operaÃ…Â £iuni de comerÃ…Â £ exterior, Editura FundaÃ…Â £iei RomÃÆ'Â ¢nia de MÃÆ'Â ¢ine, BucureÃ…Å ¸ti, 2000; FUTRELL M.C., Principiile vÃÆ'Â ¢nzărilor, Ed. Rosetti Educational, BucureÃ…Å ¸ti, 2008; Ciobanu G., Contractarea ÃÆ'Â ®n comerÃ…Â £ul internaÃ…Â £ional, Ed.Universitaria, Craiova, 2008; iÃ…Å ¸an v., TranzacÃ…Â £ii comerciale internaÃ…Â £ionale, vol.I, ed. Sedcom Libris, IaÃ…Å ¸i, 2005; PRISECAREU P.,politici comeune ale Uniunii Europene, Ed. Economică, BucureÃ…Å ¸ti, 2004; Ralph F. H., Wallace G.M. Spanogle J., Fitzgerald, P. L., International Business Transactions, Ed. West Group, 2009; ROÃ…Å ¾U-HAMZESCU I., Tratat privind tranzacÃ…Â £ii internaÃ…Â £ionale, Vol. II, Editura Universitaria, Craiova, 2006; ROTARU I. Ã…Å ¸i colab., Managementul tranzacÃ…Â £iilor economice internaÃ…Â £ionale, manual practic pentru oamenii de afaceri, Editura Mirton, TimiÃ…Å ¸oara, 2002; Schadewald, M. S.,Misey, Robert J., Practical Guide to U.s. Taxation of International Transactions, Ed. Cch Inc, 2009; Reguli Ã…Å ¸i uzanÃ…Â £e comerciale Incoterms 2000, ediÃ…Â £ia a doua, Ed. Percomex, 2001. COMPLEX ISSUES REGARDING THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF RULES AND INCOTERMS CODIFIED INTERNATIONALLY: Abstract: The economy and trade of the 21st century reflects truly a global market, a market where the delivery is one of the essential clauses of a contract established between international partners through this regulating in fact the transfer of goods and risk from the seller to the buyer, including general economic and legal consequences. Even if buyers and sellers often are on different continents, in different parts of the world, they have used a set of international rules for interpreting trade terms. These are used in international trade to contribute in particular to simplify the negotiating operations of the sale of goods and concluding commercial contracts. The complexity of the issues involved in guiding and directing the parties to negotiate and conclude a commercial external contract for the sale of goods requires a thorough knowledge of the technique of negotiations, legislation and practice of foreign trade of International Settlements, of the international shipment and insurance customs, of the calculations of profitability and more. In this context, choosing and including in the commercial contracts the most favorable terms, at a time, for both seller and the buyer having a special significance, the relations between them being managed by the amount of terms stipulated in the contract concluded, some of them being convened in a special way, and other being those used in practice, in the international trade. IOAN POPA, TranzacÃ…Â £ii de comerÃ…Â £ exterior, Ed. Economică, BucureÃ…Å ¸ti, 2002.