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The new edition of the British International Freight Association’s (BIFA) Standard Trading Conditions will launch on 1st October 2017. The terms were last revised in 2005.
Director general of BIFA, Robert Keen, commented: “Over time, in the same ways laws must change, so do contractual rights and obligations that flow from these changes, and therefore it is essential to review any set of industry terms against changes in legislation and industry practice.”
Clauses which have undergone significant changes include:
- Clause 17: extended to take account of the SOLAS rules relating to verified gross mass (VGM) requirements.
- Clause 28, which covers the jurisdiction of any claim, has been amended so that any member can choose arbitration rather than litigation to deal with any dispute they may have with their customer.
Slight changes to the document include outdated wording that has been revised as well as the preamble and definitions being made tighter to reflect the new EU regulation number following the introduction of the Union Customs Code.
Additionally, the role of the direct representative has had a particular reinforcement.
The changes to BIFA’s Standard Trading Conditions will be incorporated into John Good Logistics’s contracts. A copy of the new BIFA standard trading conditions can be downloaded here.