GB/T 22153-2008International freight forwarders' standard trading conditions (English PDF)

GB/T 22153-2008 is the English-translated version of 国际货运代理通用交易条件.

China's national standard trading conditions for international freight forwarders - the model terms on which a forwarder contracts with its customer.

It specifies the general trading conditions applicable to international freight forwarding services, covering the scope of the services, the obligations of each party, the basis and limits of the forwarder's liability, the lien and the time limits for claims.

A forwarder occupies an awkward legal position and the whole document exists because of it. Depending on how it contracts, the same company can be an agent - arranging carriage on behalf of the customer, with the carrier liable for the goods - or a principal, a contracting carrier that has undertaken the movement itself and answers for it.

The consequences differ entirely: as agent it owes care in selecting and instructing; as principal it owes delivery. And a customer who has not read the contract usually assumes the second while paying for the first.

Standard trading conditions resolve that in advance, in writing, before a claim arises rather than after.

The conditions set out which services are covered and on what basis the forwarder acts; the customer's obligations, above all the duty to declare the nature of the goods accurately, since a misdeclaration of dangerous or high-value cargo shifts risk that was never priced; the forwarder's liability and the limits and exclusions on it, including consequential loss and delay; the lien the forwarder holds over goods and documents for unpaid charges, which is its practical security; the notice period for a claim and the time bar after which no action lies; and insurance, which the forwarder arranges only on instruction. Issued on 2 July 2008 and in force since 1 December 2008.

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This preview omits tables, figures, formulas and parts of the technical clauses. The complete document — 15 pages — is available in the English PDF.

GB/T 22151-2008|GB/T 22152-2008|GB/T 22154-2008|GB/T 18354-2021|GB/T 22126-2025|GB/T 21071-2007

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