GENERAL TERMS OF EXPEDITION FOR CARRIERS, INTERNATIONAL SHIPPERS AND SIMILAR

Version approved by the FETEIA General Assembly in March 1999, and updated in 2002

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1.1 By issuing the shipping documents (Certificate of Reception – FCR-, Certificate of Transport – FCT- and Transport Contract – CT-), the Carrier acknowledges reception of the goods mentioned in same, to ensure that they reach their Consignee in the form agreed, in accordance with the instructions received.
1.2 Should there be no specific instructions given, the Carrier may decide on the routes, methods and means of transport that he considers most appropriate to carry out the transport and/or delivery of the goods in their optimum condition.
1.3 The goods shall always be expedited at the Shipper’s and/or Consignee’s risk, and insurance cover will be contracted solely according to the written instructions received from said parties.
1.4 In all cases, the goods shall be received, expedited, re-expedited, transported, shipped, stored, handled, delivered, and where necessary insured, according to the terms, conditions and limitations of those parties to whom the Carrier entrusts the execution of each of the aforementioned operations.
1.5. Should the Consignee or final receiver reject all or part of the goods on arrival, they shall be placed in storage at the Shipper’s risk (or the appropriate party), according to the laws or the commercial practices of the place of delivery.
1.6. Storage shall be implemented in places, premises or official warehouses at ports, stations, airports or others, either public or private, legally established and authorised for transport, freight forwarding or warehousing activities.

2. TRANSPORT DOCUMENTS.
The letters of carriage or bills of lading corresponding to the effective execution of all or part of the transport process will be available during the entire period of validity of said process. They shall always be established by companies or firms abiding by the international agreements currently in force and according to the terms of said agreements. Should this not be possible in a specific part of the route, other companies shall be hired which possess the required recognition or legal status as national or international carriers, as applicable.

3. DESCRIPTION OF GOODS AND PACKAGING.
3.1. On receiving the shipment, the Carrier shall check its exact state with respect to the characteristics, description, brands, figures, amount, weight and volume of the shipment. The Shipper and/or Consignee shall be responsible for any loss, damage, malfunctions and/or claims that might be caused to third parties due to the inaccuracy of the aforementioned data, as well as those resulting from inadequate, defective or badly-assembled packaging that might cause damage or harm to the goods, to the handling teams or the means of transport, even if said inaccuracies or deficiencies should appear in operations not directly executed by the Carrier, who will furthermore be reimbursed for any additional costs deriving from said loss or damage, etc.
3.2. The Shipper is obliged to inform the Carrier if any of the shipments submitted for transportation are of a dangerous nature, and of any precautions which, where necessary, should be taken. In the event of omission or insufficient information, the Shipper shall be responsible for any damage caused by the goods, while the Carrier shall have the right to reimbursement for any costs caused by said eventuality, and shall also be exempted from any responsibility if the shipment should have to be unloaded, destroyed or neutralised, according to the specific circumstances, and without resort to compensation.

4. EXTENT AND LIMITS OF LIABILITY.
4.1. The Carrier shall be held responsible for any damages resulting from the loss, malfunction or delay of the delivery if the action that caused said damages took place between the time the Carrier took charge of the shipment, and the time when said shipment was delivered to its destination. Nevertheless, the Carrier shall not be held responsible for any actions or events resulting or deriving from errors or negligent action by the Shipper or the Consignee, including inherent defects in the goods, strikes, lock-outs or other disputes in the workplace that might affect the work; or by any other circumstances the Carrier could not possibly have foreseen or avoided through the use of reasonable diligence.
4.2. The Carrier shall not be responsible for compliance with instructions given subsequent to the issuing of the expedition documents, nor for any other contingency deriving from said subsequent instructions.
4.3. The liabilities of the Carrier:
4.3.1. The liabilities of the Carrier, for his own actions, will be limited to a maximum of 8,33 DEG per kilogram of gross weight of the goods lost or damaged. Nevertheless, in maritime shipments, liability will be limited (also to a maximum) of a total that shall not exceed the equivalent of 666,67 DEG per package or unit (or 2 DEG per kilogram of gross weight) of the goods lost or damaged, if this amount is greater; in air shipments, meanwhile, the total is understood to be 17 DEG per kilogram.
4.3.2. If the Carrier should be responsible for damages resulting from delayed delivery, or for any loss or indirect damage other than the loss or damage of the shipment, his liability shall be limited to a total that shall not exceed the equivalent of the payment that must be made in accordance with the contract signed by the Carrier.
4.3.3. The accumulated liability of the Carrier shall not exceed the limits of liability for the total loss of the shipment.
4.3.4. Said limitations shall be applied to all claims made against the Carrier, whether the claim is based on contractual liability or non-contractual liability.
4.3.5. Special drawing rights (SDR) are understood to refer to the unit of account as defined by the International Monetary Fund.
4.4. If the liability derives from actions occurring during the execution of the transport process, in which the Carrier is a subrogate party, the indemnity shall not exceed the sum that has been set for rail, maritime, area or road transport companies, warehouses, or any other intermediary involved in the transport process, in accordance with current international regulations and agreements.

5. COST OF THE CONTRACTED SERVICES.
5.1. Transport and other services involved in the Carrier’s activities are understood to be contracted according to the rates in force at the time of the contract and within its foreseen limits. Should no rates be agreed, the contract shall be implemented at the usual rates or market prices customary to the place in which the contract is signed. Any additional costs produced as a result of events or circumstances prior to the date the contract comes into effect or, alternatively, to the date on which the shipping documents are issued, shall be at the users’ expense, providing that they are duly justified and not the result of any fault or negligence by any of those involved in providing the contracted services.
5.2. Payment for all costs and services provided by the Carrier shall be in cash, unless special conditions have been previously agreed.
5.3. The Carrier possesses the right of retention over shipments for all the sums that are due to said Carrier in accordance with the services entrusted to same. The Carrier may assert his right by any means he deems appropriate, and which are admissible before the law. If the goods are lost or destroyed, the Carrier possesses the same aforementioned rights with respect to compensation paid out by insurance companies, transport companies or others.

6. NOTIFICATION AND LIMITATION.
6.1. Legal actions for losses, malfunctions or delays may not be implemented if the corresponding objections and complaints have not been formalised by the time the respective shipments were delivered.
6.2. In the event of losses, malfunctions or delays occurring in the material execution of the transport process, all objections and complaints must be formulated within the terms and conditions specified in the bills of lading, waybills, etc., or, in their absence, in the terms and conditions established in the international agreements regulating the specific form of transport involved.
6.3. All actions relating to services provided by the Carrier shall be understood to have lapsed after a period of 12 months, calculating from the time the shipment was delivered to the Consignee, or from the date on which it should have been delivered.
6.4. Nonetheless, the time limit for actions deriving from the material implementation of the different transport operations will be understood to have lapsed after the end of the time period specified in the bills of lading, waybills, etc., or in their absence, the international agreements regulating the different forms of transport, with the limitation period commencing in accordance with the specifications contained in said documents and agreements.

7. JURISDICTION.
The Shipper and/or the Consignee shall be expressly subject to the jurisdiction and powers of the courts of the place in which the obligation is to be fulfilled. Nevertheless, if the dispute does not exceed a total of 3.005,06 €, an agreement shall exist to abide by the arbitration of the Transport Claim Arbitration Boards of the Carrier’s place of domicile, providing that neither of the parties have expressed their desire to be excluded from said form of arbitration before the transport process began, or were due to have begun. In disputes in which the sum is greater than 3.005,06 €, the contracting parties may expressly agree to abide by the aforementioned arbitration.