Nine Fatal Oversights in Import Equipment Agency Contracts

I.Import RepresentationConstruction of the legal framework of the contract

According to the newly revised International Trade Agency Regulations in 2025Equipment ImportsThe agency agreement must contain a complete chain of legal elements. In the agency authority clause, it is recommended to adopta three - level authorization mechanism6.: basic procurement rights, special disposal rights, and emergency decision - making rights, corresponding to equipment procurement behaviors in different amount ranges respectively.

II. Technical Disassembly of Core Clauses

After analyzing international trade arbitration cases in the past three years, equipment import disputes mainly focus on the following clause defects:

• Setting of payment terms
  • Linking the advance payment ratio to the equipment production stage
  • The release of the final payment needs to meet independent third - party inspection
• Handling of quality objections
  • Clarify the time limit for the buyers reinspection (recommended ≤ 15 working days)
  • Agreeing on the liability attribution in case of equipment commissioning failure

III. Clause Responses under New Trade Barriers

Regarding the revised terms of INCOTERMS that come into effect in 2025, the equipment import contract should pay special attention to:

• Adopting a two - track certification system for technical standards (standards of the country of origin + mandatory standards of the destination country)
• The pre - installed software content needs to list the intellectual property clauses separately in the attachment
• Second - hand equipment needs to add a CE certification update clause

IV. Special Design of the Dispute Resolution Mechanism

A professional agency contract should establishThree - level dispute handling mechanism:

• The first stage: Joint diagnosis by the technical committee (initiated within 72 hours)
• The second stage: mediation by industry experts (it is recommended to select experts from the list of the Machinery Industry Association)
• The third stage: Agree on arbitration by the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (the award enforcement covers 167 countries)

V. Refined Handling of Attachment Clauses

The equipment specification sheet should containthree - dimensional verification standards:

• Basic performance parameters (comply with ISO 12100:2025)
• Production capacity verification standard (continuous 72 - hour load test)
• Safety redundancy coefficient (≥ 20% of the industry standard)