What is FOSFA? Contracts, arbitration and cargo lists

FOSFA, the Federation of Oils, Seeds and Fats Associations, is the trade federation that issues standard contracts for oilseeds and vegetable and animal oils and fats. It also administers arbitration in London and keeps the lists of banned and acceptable previous cargoes that decide whether a ship's tank may load edible oil. According to fosfa.org (accessed September 2026), 85% of the global trade in oils, seeds and fats is traded under FOSFA contracts.

Operium is not a FOSFA member and holds no FOSFA approval; this article explains the rules, and the official documents are on fosfa.org.

What FOSFA is and what it does

FOSFA was established in 1971 and states that more than 1,200 companies in nearly 90 countries have become members (fosfa.org, accessed September 2026). The federation is owned and funded by its members and oversees its standards through an elected Council and specialist committees.

The FOSFA standard contracts and what a numbered form regulates

Most FOSFA contracts are numbered forms that pair a commodity group with a delivery term. The list of April 2024 runs from No. 2 to No. 202, and the numbered forms on it all carry the same April 2024 effective date.

No.	Contract, per the April 2024 list
4	Oilseeds — FOB Terms
53	Vegetable and Marine Oil — FOB Terms
54	Vegetable and Marine Oil — CIF Terms
80	Crude Unbleached Palm Oil — CIF Terms (issued with MPOA)

The contract text is FOSFA copyright and is not reproduced here; the forms are available from fosfa.org. FOSFA's public pages describe several kinds of provision found in the forms:

• insurance clauses on the CIF forms, covering general insurance terms, war, strikes and exclusions;
• sampling and inspection, which the contracts say should be done by FOSFA member superintendents where practical;
• previous cargoes, where the standard terms refer to the banned list;
• on some forms, an adjustment of outturn clause that prices an excess or deficit delivery;
• the domicile clause, which makes English law apply, and the reference of disputes to FOSFA arbitration.

Optional and special clauses can be added. On forms No. 54 and No. 80 the outturn adjustment uses a settlement price that FOSFA publishes, established by the appropriate Price Settlement Committee from a CIF market value of goods arriving at Rotterdam on a Monday and a Thursday of each week. It currently applies (fosfa.org, September 2026) to Malaysian/Indonesian crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil and Philippine/Indonesian crude coconut oil; see FOSFA 54 explained.

Arbitration in London under the FOSFA rules

The Rules of Arbitration and Appeal, revised and effective from 1 April 2026, send disputes to arbitration in London under the Arbitration Act 1996, with England as the juridical seat. Only FOSFA may administer them, and every party is bound and liable for the fees, member or not.

Step	Time limit under the 1 April 2026 Rules
Claim for quality and/or condition	90 consecutive days from completion of discharge (CIF, CIFFO, C&F and similar) or of delivery (FOB, ex-tank, ex-mill, ex-store)
Other claims	One year, counted per delivery term as the Rules set out
Respondent names its arbitrator	30 consecutive days from receipt of the notice of claim
Notice of appeal	12.00 London time on the 28th consecutive day after the date of the award

Each party appoints an arbitrator and FOSFA appoints a third as chair, unless the parties agree on a sole arbitrator. Arbitrators come from the trade, not from private legal practice. Appeals go to a Board of Appeal of five. Submissions are in English or translated into it. Where a sample may decide the case, the claimant sends sealed samples to FOSFA, where they are held at the disposal of the arbitrators. For the comparison with GAFTA, see GAFTA and FOSFA arbitration.

Banned and acceptable previous cargoes

Edible oil often goes into tanks that carried something else, so FOSFA keeps two lists. The List of Banned Immediate Previous Cargoes names substances that may not be the last cargo before oils and fats; examples include crude mineral oil, isocyanates, aniline and cashew nut shell oil. The List of Acceptable Previous Cargoes is a positive list of foodstuffs, processing aids and other materials known to be compatible with oils and fats. Standard FOSFA terms refer to the banned list; the optional clause AS9 restricts the immediate previous cargo to the acceptable list. Either way, FOSFA states that the lists in force at the date or dates of the bill of lading apply; see how the banned and acceptable lists are applied.

Both lists come with a flowchart for vessel and barge tanks, and the points below appear in both:

• The immediate previous cargo is checked whatever volume it occupied.
• Further back, only a qualifying previous cargo counts: 60% or more of the tank volume per the flowcharts, more than 60% per FOSFA's summary page. Smaller parcels are recorded but do not qualify; check the current edition before relying on either.
• Leaded products, and in organic coated tanks also ethylene dichloride and styrene monomer, are restricted further back in the tank history, regardless of volume. The exact restrictions are set out at the foot of the banned list.

Commission Regulation (EU) No 579/2014, derogating from Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, lets edible liquid oils and fats travel in seagoing vessels not reserved for foodstuffs, on the conditions in its Articles 2 and 3:

• oils to be processed: the immediate previous cargo (stainless steel or epoxy-lined tanks) or the three previous cargoes (other tanks) must be a foodstuff or on the annex list;
• oils not to be further processed: a stainless steel or epoxy-lined tank, and three previous cargoes that were foodstuffs;
• the master keeps documentary evidence of the three preceding cargoes and of the cleaning between them.

The annex was amended by Regulations (EU) 2016/238 and 2019/978. FOSFA advises using the latest consolidated version, on EUR-Lex dated 7 July 2019 (as at September 2026), and reflects the two regimes in its EU1 and EU2 clauses.

Why the lists matter to shipping and to the surveyor

For the shipowner and charterer, the lists decide whether a tank is acceptable; a tank that fails is rejected. For the cargo surveyor they become a paper trail: the master's records of previous cargoes and cleaning, a tank inspection, and sealed samples. Based on the working practice of our sector specialist: 25 years in the port, 20 of them as a cargo surveyor. Previous cargoes are checked against the FOSFA and EU lists. What is written down at the tank is what a tribunal reads months later, which is why the work of an independent cargo surveyor is the evidence base for any claim.

FOSFA member superintendents and analysts

Member superintendents work to a code of practice that FOSFA developed with the International Federation of Inspection Agencies, now the TIC Council, and to contractual methods of sampling. Member analysts must be independent of firms trading FOSFA-contracted goods, use the contractual methods of analysis and take part in FOSFA's annual accreditation tests. Any approval mentioned here is held by those third parties.

For a trader, terminal or inspection company, the practical work is to know which form and clauses govern the trade, and to have the file ready before the 90-day notice deadline: list edition at the bill of lading date, tank records and sealed samples. For the samples, see sampling rules in agri trade.

FOSS is software for inspection companies and the port: measurements entered once, nine report types from the same input, outturn per medium against the bill of lading weight with an automatic protest flag at more than 0.5% short, and sample tracking, with a sector specialist at the table. See FOSS or get in touch.