On the operations desk, EXW tells the forwarder that the seller's role ends the moment the goods are placed at its disposal at the named place, so the buyer arranges and pays for collection, the main carriage, and every formality downstream. Because the buyer also carries the loading and the export clearance, the forwarder acting for the buyer has to plan for collection from the seller's site and for filing the export declaration in the seller's country, which the buyer is often poorly placed to do. The decision the term drives is whether the buyer can realistically handle export clearance at origin, since that is where EXW most often causes trouble. The clean line against FCA is who handles loading and export clearance: under EXW the buyer takes the uncleared goods at the seller's premises and is responsible for both, whereas under FCA the seller delivers the goods cleared for export to a carrier nominated by the buyer, loading them where the named place is the seller's premises.
Glossary
EXW (Ex Works)
Ex Works (EXW) is the any-mode Incoterm under which the seller fulfils its obligation by making the goods available at its own premises or another named place, while the buyer bears all costs and risks from that point onward, including loading the goods and clearing them for export, making it the minimum obligation on the seller and the maximum on the buyer.