EXW places the fewest logistical obligations on the seller. It is also one of the terms that most complicates proving a VAT exemption on export.
The logic looks convenient: I make the goods available at my warehouse, the buyer arranges transport, my responsibility ends there.
But the exemption doesn’t depend on where you deliver. It depends on being able to prove the goods actually left the Union. Knowing the customer collected them does not prove that departure.
What you actually need
A solid evidence file: export declaration, exit confirmation, invoice and transport documents.
Under EXW the buyer handles clearance. Regulation obliges them to forward you the customs documentation, but an obligation is one thing and control is another. You take no part in the procedure and don’t decide how the operation is declared.
Where the problem appears
Years later. The tax authority asks for the file and you discover the declaration doesn’t correctly identify your company or your invoice, that the operation can’t be linked to your sale, or that the exit confirmation never arrived.
By then, reconstructing that documentation with a customer you may no longer work with is difficult and expensive.
The alternative
With FCA at your premises you handle clearance and regain documentary control. It doesn’t eliminate every risk, but it removes one of the most avoidable ones.
It may cost slightly more in the quote. It costs far less than reconstructing an export during an audit.