Following careful consideration at Gafta's International Contracts Committee and Gafta's Arbitration Committee. Gafta Council has approved the below changes to Contracts. The revised Rules and Contracts can be found on the Gafta website.
Amendment to all Rules and Contracts: the stylisation of ‘GAFTA’ to ‘Gafta’.
Arbitration Rules 125
Rule 4.4 of Gafta 125 Rules has been amended to reflect current practice of case submissions.
“4.4 All submissions and evidence shall be served by sending them to the other party, with copies to Gafta, via email. All submissions and evidence are to be in English or with English translations. Hard copies shall be provided by the parties upon request from Gafta.”
Arbitration Rules 126
Rule 4.1 of Gafta 126 Rules has been amended to reduce the timeframe for payment of the Arbitration deposit.
4.1 The Claimants shall deposit with Gafta such sum as Gafta considers appropriate on account of the costs, fees and expenses of the arbitration. If the deposit is not received by Gafta by 12 noon on the 60th 30th consecutive day after the date on which it was called for, the application shall be deemed to be waived and barred.”
Domicile Clause
The Domicile clause has been amended to make the onus of performed in England robust. the following words have been deleted for clarification purposes
“DOMICILE
This contract shall be deemed to have been made in England and to be performed in England, notwithstanding any contrary provision, and this contract shall be construed and take effect in accordance with the laws of England. Except for the purpose of enforcing any award made in pursuance of the Arbitration Clause of this contract, the Courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine any application for ancillary relief, (save for obtaining security only for the claim or counter-claim), the exercise of the powers of the Court in relation to the arbitration proceedings and any dispute other than a dispute which shall fall within the jurisdiction of arbitrators or board of appeal of the Association pursuant to the Arbitration Clause of this contract. For the purpose of any legal proceedings each party shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident or carrying on business at the offices of The Grain and Feed Trade Association, (Gafta), England., and any party residing or carrying on business in Scotland shall be held to have prorogated jurisdiction against himself to the English Courts or if in Northern Ireland to have submitted to the jurisdiction and to be bound by the decision of the English Courts. The service of proceedings upon any such party by leaving the same at the offices of The Grain and Feed Trade Association, together with the posting of a copy of such proceedings to his address outside England, shall be deemed good service, any rule of law or equity to the contrary notwithstanding.
This clause has effect only as it relates to issues of conflict of laws and any subsequent dispute that may arise between the parties. It is not deemed relevant to performance of the contract and does not contradict or override the provisions contained in the Notices clause.
Subclause in the Payment clause of C&F/C&FFO/CIF/CIFFO
The subclause of the Payment clause has been reworded to allow for sellers/buyers to agree their own terms in contracts.
“PAYMENT
…
(c) In the event of a complete set of shipping documents not being available when called for by Buyers, or on arrival of the vessel at destination, Sellers may at their option, in exchange for payment by Buyers, provide a letter of indemnity entitling Buyers to obtain delivery of the goods. Such payment shall not prejudice Buyers’ rights under the contract when shipping documents are available.”
CIFFO Contracts Weighing on
An amendment to the weighing clause has been made to resolve a grammatical error. The clause will now read
“If final at time and place of loading, as per Gafta registered superintendents’
certificate at Sellers’ choice and expense, the Deficiency Clause will not apply.”
Appropriation and Default clause shortening Date of default in CIF contracts
An amendment to the appropriation and default clause has been made to CIF contracts, for standardisation and to recognise modern forms of communication.
Quality Clause and Certificate final
Gafta 47 and 49 have been updated to be in line with other contracts where certificate final is mentioned. Both contracts now contain the full quality clause.
Subclause in the Default clause in CIF/CIFFO/C&F/C&FFO contracts
To remove ambiguity regarding declaring default. The subclause of the Default clause in CIF/CIFFO/C&F/C&FFO contracts has been amended to:
“In default of fulfillment of contract by either party, the following provisions shall apply:.....
(f) Sellers may declare themselves in default at any time after expiry of the contract...”
Gafta No.124 Sampling Rules
With effect from 1 October 2025, the, in respect of Malting Barley samples and analysis, are updated as follows:
- Amend Rule 9.5.2.4
EXISTING: 9.5.2.4. Either party has the right to request a second analysis. Within 7 consecutive days from receipt of the first certificate notification of such claim must be served to the other party and further analysis samples with instructions shall be sent to an analyst listed on the Approved Register of Analysts.
NEW: 9.5.2.4. Either party has the right to request a second and third analysis. Please refer to Rule 9.5.3.4 below.
- Amend the heading of 9.5.3.4 to add Malting Barley
9.5.3.4. Second & Third Analyses - Applicable to feedingstuffs, biomass and marine & animal products, and Malting Barley (excluding feed grains and feed pulses)
The reasons for this change are:
- To clarify what is to be done with the additional analyses, when performed, on Malting Barley
- To allow for a third analysis in case of further dispute
- To better align with other Malting Barley contract terms
Gafta No.131 Optional Clauses:
An additional Clause is added to the Gafta No.131 Optional Clauses:
7. Method of Drawing Samples for Goods Destined for EU Operators:
To ensure that shipments are sampled in accordance with EU sampling requirements for the control of contaminants, including pesticide residues, mycotoxins and plant toxins, sampling shall be done per hold. The number of increments to be taken per hold shall be determined as per Table 1 in the Gafta No.124 Sampling Rules based on the Nominated Quantity of each hold. Sets of samples to be prepared per hold and to be made available for testing as required.
Reason for the change:
Parties to the contract will have the option to include this clause in their contracts to ensure contractual samples taken for goods imported into the EU meet the EU sampling requirements for regulatory controls. Parties are reminded to instruct their Superintendent(s) accordingly when inserting this optional clause into their contracts.
Disclaimer
All Gafta Circulars and Notices are provided to Members purely for the purposes of information. We have not taken any steps to verify the accuracy of the information provided and, accordingly, Members must obtain their own independent professional advice as to its content and effect. We cannot accept any liability, howsoever arising, for any loss or damage which may be caused by any reliance on any information contained in a Gafta Circular or Notice.