ABSTRACT
Under a cost, insurance and freight (cif) contract, the seller is required to arrange the carriage of the goods and their insurance in transit, and all costs of such arrangements are included in the contract price. The essential duties of a cif seller are to obtain a bill of lading, a policy of insurance and any other document required by the contract, and to forward them to the buyer who pays on the invoice when he receives the shipping documents. Shipping documents play a central role in cif contracts, particularly where documentary financing is concerned, because the buyer in international sale contracts has two rights of rejection. Cif contracts are often concerned with the sale of unascertained goods, and issues concerning the passing of risk and property are often involved. A particular problem arises where unascertained goods are lost before the cif seller has appropriated the goods to the contract.
