General terms and conditions of sale
General terms and conditions of sale of Xwift bv, hereinafter referred to as “the carrier”.
1. Invoices are payable in Nazareth, in cash, net and without discount at the address of the carrier's place of business, unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing.
2. The carrier is only bound to the corresponding execution of each order subject to prior and explicit written confirmation on its part. Each loading and unloading address always includes 15, 30 or 45 minutes, depending on the type of vehicle, unless otherwise stated in writing. Waiting times longer than this period of 15.30 or 45 minutes respectively are always charged and invoiced and are due by the client.
3. The client and the carrier must behave in accordance with the standards of “reasonableness” and “fairness”. Any form of unreasonableness or unfairness will lead to the immediate entry into force of articles 8 and 9 without prior notice, regardless of whether or not the invoices would have expired, and that the unreasonable or unfair complaint, comment or any other dispute of such nature will be considered null and void, without prejudice to the fact that the terms of article 6 would be respected.
4. The carrier tries to carry out its orders in accordance and in good order. In the event of force majeure (strikes, riots, blockages, extreme weather conditions, car trouble and any other circumstances for which the carrier cannot be held responsible), this releases the carrier from any damage clause arising from the agreements made. A late arrival at a loading and/or unloading address by the carrier is always considered a case of force majeure and will never give rise to any compensation from the carrier to the client. However, the client will be informed of any delay in execution without delay, if the situation permits. This last condition will be considered “goodwill” and cannot be considered binding in any way. Should the carrier nevertheless respond to a request for compensation from the client in exceptional cases, this should be seen as commercial compensation and never as an admission of guilt. Note that the compensation still awarded will never exceed the value of the trip to which the compensation relates.
5. The carrier will carry out the orders under the provisions of the CMR convention and will also have the legal insurance for this. The carrier cannot be held responsible for any consequential damage.
6. The client or her manager must himself be responsible for any additional insurance if the standard CMR insurance proves insufficient.
7. The carrier is responsible for loading and unloading (unless otherwise stated when ordering).
8. Main participants' obligations in ADR transports
A. Sender
• Check that the goods are classified and can be transported.
• Provide the carrier with information, data and the required transport and accompanying documents in a traceable manner.
• Only use packages/tanks that are approved, suitable and have the required markings.
• Comply with shipping method terms and restrictions.
• Ensure that even empty, uncleaned, undegassed tanks have the appropriate signal/markings and that these tanks are equally leakproof.
B. Recipient
• May not delay receipt of the goods without compelling reasons, and must check whether the regulations relevant to him are complied with after unloading.
• If a container has been found to have an infringement, he may only return it to the carrier after it has been remedied.
C. Loader
• May only hand over to the carrier those dangerous goods that are allowed to transport according to the ADR.
• When handing over packaged dangerous goods or empty uncleaned packaging for transport, he must check whether the packaging is damaged.
He may not hand over packages, packages or empty uncleaned packages whose packaging is damaged.
• Must comply with special loading and handling regulations.
• After loading, must comply with the requirements concerning the large labels, the markings and the orange shields according to chapter 5.3.
9. Any complaint must be submitted by registered letter with receipt and with a valid and clearly defined reason to the carrier's place of business within 8 days of the invoice date. This is under penalty of forfeiture and inadmissibility of any complaint after the specified period and without a valid reason as also provided in article 3.
10. Any complaint regarding the conformity of delivery must be reported by registered letter to the carrier's address within 48 (forty-eight) hours after the scheduled delivery date or time. All complaints made after this period are considered null and void.
11. In the event of non-payment by the due date, the amount of the unpaid invoice will be increased by 15% by operation of law, by a minimum of 125.00 euros as a compensation clause and without prior notice of default being required.
12. Any overdue and unpaid invoice entails an increase of 12% per annum in default interest, by operation of law and without prior notice of default. This interest is completely independent of the certain compensation clause stated in article 11.
13. If 1 invoice remains unpaid on its due date, this means that all current invoices, whether due or not, will be due and payable by operation of law and that they will be made payable immediately. This applies without prior notice of default and with articles 11 and 12 of these agreements to invoices that have not yet expired.
14. The carrier's unavailability towards the client or its manager for whatever reason does not give rise to any compensation, even if this clause or a similar clause would form part of the client's terms and conditions.
15. Orders that are already confirmed, which are canceled late, e.g. when the carrier has already left, automatically and without further notice of default include a cancellation fee of 50% of the fixed transport cost (depending on the type of vehicle) if the order is canceled 1 to 2 hours before the start. If the order is canceled less than 1 hour before the start, a cancellation fee of 100% of the fixed transport cost will be deducted. If the kilometers already worked exceed the fixed amount, not the lump sum, but the actual transport cost for these performed services, will be charged.
16. Our invoices are subject to a diesel surcharge. For each increase or decrease in the maximum diesel price, calculated from 1.92 €/liter, by 1 cent per liter, a price supplement or price drop of 0.25% will be on the invoice. However, the diesel surcharge can never be negative. If the official diesel price at the pump is less than 1.92 €/liter, the surcharge is 0%.
17. The carrier's terms and conditions of sale always prevail over those of the client and/or its manager, even if other terms and conditions would have been agreed.
18. The courts of Ghent are competent for all claims and any disputes.