Glossary term
EXW
Incoterms rule: the seller makes goods available at its own premises; the buyer bears everything from that point, including export clearance.
Ex Works. The seller’s minimum obligation: it makes the goods available at its own premises, and does not load them or clear them for export.
That last point is the problem. Export clearance in the seller’s country usually requires a party established there, and a foreign buyer often cannot file the declaration or obtain the evidence of export the seller needs for its own tax position. In practice sellers end up performing these steps informally, without the contractual protection they would have under FCA.
For cross-border trade FCA is almost always the better rule. EXW is best reserved for domestic sales.