BRITISH INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT ASSOCIATION (BIFA) STANDARD TRADING CONDITIONS 2025 EDITION movement, the Customer shall provide complete, factual and accurate data as required by the Company or their agents and fulfil its legal obligations; (G)w here the Company is instructed to make a customs entry on the basis that import VAT is to be postponed, the Customer warrants that they are entitled to postpone VAT and will comply with all related regulatory requirements; (H)that the value of the Goods and the nature of the transaction by which the Goods are being imported/exported is fully and accurately described to the Company and that any commercial invoice reflecting the value of the Goods is an invoice issued by a true seller to a true buyer reflecting the real sum payable; (I)unless disclosed in writing to the Company neither the Goods, the Customer, the Owner nor any Person connected with the carriage of Goods are the subject of any trade sanctions or restrictions imposed by the UK, the EU, the USA or any other government or authority. 19 The Customer undertakes that no claim shall be made against any director, servant, or employee of the Company which imposes, or attempts to impose, upon them any liability in connection with any Services, and, if any such claim should nevertheless be made, to indemnify the Company against all consequences thereof. 20 The Customer shall indemnify the Company for: (A)all charges, costs and expenses whatsoever (including but not limited to quay rent, demurrage or storage charges, duties, taxes, imposts, levies, deposits and outlays of whatsoever nature levied in relation to the Goods) arising out of the Company acting in accordance or in connection with the Customer’s instructions, and any liability, loss or damage arising from any breach by the Customer of any warranty or other obligation contained in these Conditions, or from the negligence of the Customer; (B)any liability assumed, or incurred by the Company when, by reason of carrying out the Customer’s instructions, the Company has become liable to any other party; (C)all claims, costs and demands whatsoever and by whomsoever made or preferred, in excess of the liability of the Company under the terms of these Conditions, regardless of whether such claims, costs, and/or demands arise from, or in connection with, the breach of contract, negligence or breach of duty of the Company, its servants, sub-contractors or agents. 21 (A)The Customer shall pay to the Company in cash, or as otherwise agreed, all sums when due, immediately and without reduction or deferment on account of any claim, counterclaim or set-off. Where the Customer makes a payment to the Company without providing instructions for the allocation of that payment then the Company has complete discretion as to the allocation and the allocation made by the Company shall be final and binding; (B)Where the Company offers the Customer any period of credit in relation to the payment of sums payable to the Company, any such credit may be varied or withdrawn at the Company’s absolute discretion with immediate effect upon written notice; (C)In the event of any failure by the Customer to make full and punctual payment of any sum payable to the Company (in accordance with clause 21(A) above) any and all other sums properly earned by and/or otherwise due to the Company (but which, but for this clause 21(C), would otherwise not yet be payable by the Customer, whether by virtue of an agreed credit period or otherwise) shall become immediately payable in full in accordance with clause 21(A); (D)Unless otherwise agreed in writing the Customer shall be absolutely barred from challenging the value of any invoice issued by the Company unless it gives written notice of the basis for the dispute before the later of (a) the date that the invoice became due for payment; or (b) 30 days from the invoice being delivered and that part of the invoice that cannot reasonably be disputed is paid within the date that the invoice became due for payment; (E) T he Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, as amended, shall apply to all sums due from the Customer. 22 Where a security demand is made for general average or salvage in respect of a Customer’s Goods, the Customer shall promptly provide security in a form reasonably required by the Company or any carrier or salvor and the Customer shall indemnify the Company for any liability incurred by the Company in the nature of general average or salvage related to the Customer’s Goods. 23 The Company shall perform its duties with a reasonable degree of care, diligence, skill and judgment. 24 The Company shall be relieved of liability for any loss or damage if, and to the extent that, such loss or damage is caused by: (A)strike, lock-out, stoppage or restraint of labour, the consequences of which the Company is unable to avoid by the exercise of reasonable diligence; or (B)any cause or event which the Company, by the exercise of reasonable diligence, is unable to avoid and the consequences of which it is unable to prevent. 25 Unless it is expressly agreed in writing that the provisions of this clause 25 shall not apply, the Company has no liability for a failure to adhere to agreed departure or arrival dates of Goods, regardless of the cause. 26 (A) The Company’s liability howsoever arising and including negligence and notwithstanding that the cause of loss or damage may be unexplained, shall not exceed: (i) in the case of claims arising out of loss or damage to Goods (including arising out of mis- delivery), the lesser of: (a) the value of any Goods lost or damaged; or (b) a sum at the rate of 2 SDR per kilo of the gross weight of the Goods lost or damaged. (ii) subject to the provisions of clauses 26(B) to (D) in the case of all other claims, the lesser of: (a) the value of any loss of the Customer; or (b) a sum equivalent to 2 SDR per kilo of the weight of the Goods which were the subject of the Services giving rise to the claim; or (c) 75,000 SDR. (iii) W ith respect to clause 26(A)(ii) where the Customer has two or more claims that arise out of a breach or a series of breaches that are repetitions of or represent the continuation of the original breach the Company’s total liability arising therefrom shall not exceed 75,000 SDR in a calendar year. A calendar year shall start on the date that the first breach occurs. For the purposes of clause 26(A), the value of the Goods shall be their value when they were, or should have been, received for shipment or storage by or on behalf of the Company. The value of SDR shall be calculated as at the date when the claim is received by the Company in writing. (B) The Company’s liability for loss or damage as a result of failure to deliver, or arrange delivery of goods, in a reasonable time, or (where there is a special arrangement under clause 25) to adhere to agreed departure or arrival dates, shall not in any circumstances whatsoever exceed a sum equal to twice the amount of the Company’s charges in respect of the relevant carriage; (C)The Company shall not in any circumstances whatsoever or howsoever caused, including negligence or mis-delivery be liable for direct or indirect loss of profit, revenue, market or use, demurrage or detention, or the consequences of delay or deviation, or for any other indirect loss or for consequential loss; (D)On clearly stated instructions in writing declaring the commodity and its value, received from the Customer and accepted by the Company, the Company may accept liability in excess of the limits set out in sub-clause 26(A) above upon the Customer agreeing to pay the Company’s additional charges for accepting such increased liability. Details of the Company’s additional charges will be provided upon request. A declaration of value, without a specific agreement to alter the liability limits, shall never be a basis for a variation of the limits of liability herein. 27 (A)Any claim by the Customer against the Company arising in respect of any Services shall be made in writing and notified to the Company within 14 days of the date upon which the Customer became, or ought reasonably to have become, aware of any event or occurrence alleged to give rise to such claim, and any claim not made and notified as aforesaid shall be deemed to be waived and absolutely barred, except where the Customer can show that it was impossible for them to comply with this time limit, and that they have made the claim as soon as it was reasonably possible for them to do so. (B)The Company shall in any event be discharged of all liability whatsoever and howsoever arising in respect of any Services, unless suit be brought and written notice thereof given to the Company: (i)in the case of a claim arising out of the loss, damage, mis-delivery or delay of Goods, within nine months from the date that the Goods were delivered, or where no delivery occurred the date on which the Goods had been intended by the Company to be available for delivery; (ii)in all other cases, within nine months from the date of the Services alleged to give rise to the cause of action against the Company, or where the Customer can show that it was impossible to comply with this time limit, within six months of the date that the Customer became aware, or acting with reasonable diligence ought to have been aware, of the event or occurrence alleged to give rise to a cause of action against the Company. (C) For the purposes of clause 27(B)(i): (i)where delivery of the Goods does not occur within 7 days of the Goods being available for delivery, the nine month period shall commence on the 8th day after the Goods were available for delivery; and (ii)the date that the Company intended the Goods to be available for delivery shall be the Company’s estimated date of arrival of the Goods into the country of destination as advised to the Customer, or where there was no such date, the date upon which the vessel, vehicle or aircraft intended to deliver the Goods to the country of destination was scheduled to arrive. 28 (A)These Conditions and any act or contract to which they apply shall be governed by English law; (B)Any dispute arising out of any act or contract to which these Conditions apply shall, save as provided in (C) and (D) below, be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts; (C)Where the Company and/or a Customer are located in Scotland or Northern Ireland the Company is entitled to commence proceedings in the courts of the country where the Company or Customer is located; (D)Notwithstanding (B) and (C) above, prior to the commencement of any court proceedings, the Company is entitled to require any dispute to be determined by arbitration, conducted as follows: (i) where the amount claimed by the claimant is less than £400,000, excluding interest, (or such other sum as the Company and Customer may agree, and subject to (iii) below), the reference shall be to a tribunal of three arbitrators and the arbitration shall be conducted in accordance with the LMAA Intermediate Claims Procedure applicable at the date of the commencement of the arbitration proceedings; (ii) where the amount claimed by the claimant is less than £100,000, excluding interest, (or such other sum as the Company and Customer may agree, and subject to (iii) below), the reference shall be to a sole arbitrator and the arbitration shall be conducted in accordance with the LMAA Small Claims Procedure applicable at the date of the commencement of the arbitration proceedings; (iii) w here neither (i) nor (ii) above applies, the reference shall be to three arbitrators in accordance with the LMAA Terms applicable at the date of the commencement of the arbitration proceedings. (E)Disputes between the same parties arising out of more than one contract or act may be brought together in a single arbitration. © BIFA 2025 PAGE 2 of 2
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