DDP Delivered Duty Paid: Full Seller Obligation to Türkiye

The Group A terms and why they apply to road haulage

DDP belongs to the seven Incoterms 2020 rules that apply to any mode of transport. The other four terms — FAS, FOB, CFR and CIF — are restricted to sea and inland waterway traffic; they define transfer points at a ship’s rail or on board, which is meaningless for a lorry. For road groupage between Europe and Türkiye, only the Group A terms apply, and among those Group A terms DDP represents the maximum seller obligation.

What the seller takes on

Under DDP the seller assumes responsibility for the full chain from the point of origin to the named destination, including import clearance in the destination country. The costs on the seller’s side include export packaging, pre-carriage to the departure terminal, all export formalities in the country of origin, the main international freight, transit through any intermediate countries, import customs formalities in Türkiye, Turkish customs duty (gümrük vergisi), import VAT (KDV) and any other charges levied at entry.

The buyer’s obligation begins only when the goods arrive at the named destination ready for unloading. Unloading costs fall to the buyer. Everything before that moment — every document, every duty, every kilometre — is the seller’s.

One comparison clarifies the scope cleanly. Under DAP (Delivered at Place), the seller delivers to the named place without having completed import clearance; that responsibility and its cost pass to the buyer. Under DDP the seller takes on import clearance in full. That is the single structural difference between the two terms, and it is the difference that makes DDP operationally demanding for any seller without an established presence in the destination country.

Risk: where it transfers, and why this matters

Risk under DDP passes at the named destination when the goods are made available for unloading on the arriving vehicle. The seller carries the risk for the entire transit — outbound domestic leg, international crossing, inbound delivery to the named place.

This alignment of cost and risk at the same location is what sets DDP apart from CPT and CIP. Under those two terms the seller pays the freight to destination, but risk transfers to the buyer at the first carrier. A seller using CPT or CIP bears costs for a journey on which, legally, the goods are already at the buyer’s risk. Under DDP that gap does not exist: the seller holds both the cost and the risk to the end.

For exports on the Italy–Türkiye corridor, where our measured mean is 6.3 days and the recorded maximum is 81, the seller under DDP is exposed to loss or damage for the full duration. Arranging a cargo insurance policy that covers the complete route is the rational response to that exposure; DDP itself prescribes no insurance obligation, so the seller must arrange it independently. The arithmetic on carrier liability limits and how cover interacts with consignment value is set out on the cargo insurance page.

Import clearance in Türkiye: the operationally difficult part

Turkish customs law requires that import declarations (Beyanname) be submitted by a licensed customs consultant — a Gümrük Müşaviri. A European seller without a Turkish legal entity or formal power of attorney cannot submit the Beyanname directly; it must mandate an authorised local broker, with the civil liability in the destination country that entails.

The duty rate applicable to each commodity line is determined by the Gümrük Tarife Cetveli — the Turkish customs tariff schedule. Antidumping measures, safeguard duties, or tariff changes enacted between the time of quotation and the time of import all fall on the seller under DDP, with no right of renegotiation. This exposure is unquantifiable at the time of pricing.

For goods that qualify under the EU–Türkiye customs union, the seller must also furnish a valid A.TR movement certificate to secure preferential treatment. Under DDP that obligation sits entirely with the seller. If the certificate is missing, covers the wrong goods or is incorrectly completed, the full duty falls due at the seller’s expense. The A.TR movement certificate guide covers which goods qualify, which are excluded (agricultural products and coal and steel), and what changed when Turkish authorities introduced electronic issuance with a QR code in July 2024.

Turkish customs also retains the right to challenge the declared transaction value and issue a supplementary assessment. That reassessment risk rests with the seller under DDP and cannot be insured against in the conventional sense.

Our customs brokerage — General Gümrük Müş. Ltd., the group’s own licensed agency operating on the Turkish side — can be mandated as Gümrük Müşaviri for consignments we carry. That removes the problem of locating a local broker without direct visibility into the shipment’s status. Details are on the customs brokerage page.

The import VAT problem

KDV is a structural difficulty specific to DDP in the Turkish market. When the seller pays the KDV at import, it cannot reclaim it as input tax; it is not registered as a KDV taxpayer in Türkiye and has no standing to do so. The buyer, by contrast, is typically entitled to deduct the import KDV from its Turkish tax liability in full.

The contract must therefore specify who carries the KDV economically. If it does not, the seller has permanently absorbed a cost that the buyer would have recovered, with no straightforward correction after import has taken place.

What DDP means for a groupage consignment

In road groupage a consignment shares a trailer with goods belonging to other shippers across all our European corridors. If a DDP consignment’s customs clearance is held — because of a query on the declared value, a defective A.TR, a commodity code challenged by the authority — the delay is not confined to that consignment. The trailer waits at the crossing point and every consignment on it waits alongside. The DDP seller’s obligation runs with its own goods, but the consequences spread.

That is not an argument against DDP; it is an argument for ensuring the seller’s document file is complete before loading. Under DDP, incomplete paperwork affects third parties with no means of influencing the outcome.

When DDP is and is not the right choice

DDP is commercially convenient for the buyer: goods arrive cleared, duties paid, without any administrative task on the receiving side. For the seller, it makes operational sense where it has a local entity in Türkiye, an established broker mandate, experience with the Gümrük Tarife Cetveli and the liquidity to absorb duty assessments that may arrive after the commercial transaction is closed. For sellers without that infrastructure, DAP distributes the import obligation to the party that is actually equipped to manage it.

This page describes the Incoterms 2020 rules as published by the ICC and their application to road groupage traffic. It is general information and does not replace binding advice for any particular shipment, contract or customs classification.