What is NOFOTA? Trading Rules and Arbitration Explained

NOFOTA is the Netherlands Oils, Fats and Oilseeds Trade Association. It publishes trading rules and standard contracts that are used in international trade, and it runs its own arbitration with Rotterdam as the place of arbitration. Sign a contract on NOFOTA terms and it is governed by Dutch law, not by the English law you may know from FOSFA or GAFTA.

What changes when you sign on NOFOTA terms

Either party may propose the NOFOTA Trading Rules instead of a FOSFA form where the oil is traded within the EU. Then:

• Governing law. A contract under the Trading Rules is subject to Dutch law.
• No CISG. The Trading Rules expressly exclude the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the older uniform sales laws.
• Dutch arbitration. Disputes go to NOFOTA arbitration in Rotterdam, under Dutch arbitration law.

	NOFOTA	FOSFA	GAFTA
Scope	oils, fats and oilseeds; in practice liquid edible oils within the EU	international trade in oils, seeds and fats; in practice liquid edible oils by sea	dry cargo: grain, feed and other agricultural commodities
Governing law	Dutch law	English law (domicile clause)	English law
Arbitration law	Dutch arbitration law, place of arbitration Rotterdam	Arbitration Act 1996 (England)	Arbitration Act 1996 (England), wherever a hearing is held
Size	about 140 members (MVO, February 2023)	over 1,200 companies in nearly 90 countries (September 2026)	over 1,900 members in 100 countries (September 2026)

NOFOTA is not domestic-only. It says its contracts are used internationally, and it took its English name in 1977 because the trade already involved parties from several European countries.

The goods decide which one applies, not the client. Wheat or soybean meal, dry cargo, points to GAFTA and its contract forms. A palm oil cargo from Asia on c.i.f. terms normally moves on a FOSFA contract form. Liquid edible oils traded within the EU point to NOFOTA, and the Trading Rules have provisions for that, such as delivery ex tank Rotterdam or Amsterdam. Under any regime, the delivery term decides how risk, cost and documents are split; see how CIF contracts work in agricultural commodities.

Trading and arbitrating as a non-member

You do not need to join NOFOTA. The Rules for Arbitration apply to any dispute arising from a contract made on NOFOTA terms, and they set a higher deposit for a non-member claimant or appellant. Under the 1 January 2026 edition, excluding VAT:

Deposit	Member	Non-member
First instance	EUR 7,000	EUR 8,100
Appeal	EUR 8,650	EUR 9,750

These are deposits, not caps: the secretary may call for an additional deposit if costs run higher. The EUR 1,100 difference goes to NOFOTA and can never be charged to the other party. The losing party carries the arbitration costs; arbitrators may split them if both sides are partly wrong.

Seat, hearings and language

The place of arbitration, and the place where awards are made, is Rotterdam. Hearings and inspections may take place anywhere, in or outside the Netherlands, as the arbitrators decide, and by video with the parties' consent. The proceedings are confidential.

Arbitrators decide ex aequo et bono: in NOFOTA's own wording, "as good persons in equity", rather than strictly by the rules of law. Dutch arbitration law allows this where the parties have agreed to it, and requires the tribunal to take trade usages into account in every case.

On language: the Trading Rules, including the Rules for Arbitration, are published in English. We found no separate provision on the language of the proceedings in the 2026 Rules for Arbitration. If it matters, agree it in the contract or ask the secretariat before filing.

How a NOFOTA arbitration runs

In outline, under the 2026 Rules for Arbitration (days are calendar days):

1. The claimant sends a written notice of arbitration to the NOFOTA secretariat and copies it to the other side.
2. The secretariat tells the claimant the deposit in writing; it must be paid within 14 days of that communication.
3. An appointment committee appoints three arbitrators. NOFOTA's secretary acts as their legal adviser.
4. The defendant files a written defence within 14 or 30 days, depending on the type of claim.
5. The award goes to the parties by registered letter and is filed with the District Court of Rotterdam.
6. Either party may appeal within 21 days of that filing. The appeal is heard by five arbitrators.

Enforcing a NOFOTA award outside the Netherlands

An award made in Rotterdam is a Dutch award. The Netherlands ratified the New York Convention on 24 April 1964, and it took effect there on 23 July 1964. The Convention has 172 parties (UNCITRAL status page, September 2026), and it obliges their courts to recognise foreign arbitral awards and make them generally enforceable in the same way as domestic ones. Recognition may be refused only on the grounds in Article V. Those in Article V(1) must be proved by the party resisting enforcement; under Article V(2) a court may also refuse of its own motion if the dispute is not arbitrable under its law or enforcement would be contrary to its public policy. Many states apply the Convention only to awards made in another contracting state, a condition a Rotterdam award meets.

NOFOTA adds a commercial sanction. A party that does not comply with a NOFOTA award (a first-instance award not appealed in time, or an appeal award) may be posted after an enquiry by the Council, which first gives it time to object and then informs the members (Rule 19, 2026 edition; the postings page still cites the 2025 numbering, rule 18.1). A posted party cannot start NOFOTA arbitration itself on contracts made after the posting, while others can still claim against it. Of the seventeen entries on the list as per September 2025, one has a Dutch location.

Non-business days: the Dutch calendar in your contract

A deadline for a notice or other act that falls on a weekend, a public holiday or a day NOFOTA has declared non-working at the place of performance moves to the next working day. A working day ends at 17.00 local time. The contractual shipment or delivery period does not move. The list NOFOTA publishes follows the Dutch calendar: for 2026 it includes King's Day on 27 April, and 24 and 31 December count as half days from 12.00. Check the current list of non-business days before you count.

Surveyors, laboratories and tank terminals

Under the Trading Rules, the tank storage company, superintendent and laboratory must be ones NOFOTA recognises. Parties can agree otherwise for storage. For inspection and analysis, a requirement in the contract or in national law to use a government or other non-recognised body takes precedence. NOFOTA publishes all three lists.

Recognition requires NOFOTA membership and an initial audit by auditors appointed by its Technical Committee. A recognised superintendent must, among other things, follow the FOSFA Code of Practice for Member Superintendents and ISO 5555 for sampling, and hold ISO 9001 certification or an equivalent. Recognised laboratories join a yearly ring test aligned with FOSFA's proficiency test. How this recognition compares with GAFTA's register and FOSFA membership is set out in how to become a GAFTA approved superintendent.

On the quay the work does not change. What an independent cargo surveyor records must match what the contract asks for, so the file has to be complete when the cargo lands: sample numbers, seals, times, letter of protest, each dated and timed. Based on the working practice of our sector specialist: 25 years in the port, 20 of them as a cargo surveyor. In practice NOFOTA is the scheme for liquid edible oils within the EU, used for inland shipping, road trucks, terminals and storage.

The association behind the rules

Founded in Rotterdam in October 1918, NOFOTA received the Dutch "Royal" designation in 2018 and runs its secretariat from Zoetermeer. Its members are kindred bodies, market parties and service firms such as storage, laboratory and inspection companies. In 2021 Rotterdam had four tank storage companies with 1.2 million m³ for edible oils and fats (Port of Rotterdam).

---

If you work on the operational side of that chain, as an inspection company, terminal or trading house, FOSS is aimed at it: software for inspection companies, with a sector specialist at the table. Measurements are entered once and not retyped. A conversation starts with the free two-day QuickScan.