On Monday, 14.12.2015 the German Forwarding and Logistics Association (DSLV) published the new General Forwarding Conditions 2016 (ADSp). Companies must partly adapt to increased liability and should check their insurance cover. There are also changes in the demurrage and the maximum liability limits when storage is ordered. In future, in addition to the ADSp 2016, the DTLB will also apply and further increase legal uncertainty.

Increase of the liability amounts

The new ADSp 2016 can be downloaded from the association’s website.

While under the old ADSp liability was basically limited to € 5.00 per kilogram, this is now generally increased to 8.33 Special Drawing Rights (SDR). The maximum liability amount of € 5.00 / kg was rarely used in practice anyway, since the freight forwarder regularly transported as a fixed cost forwarder or at his own expense and accordingly had a liability of 8.33 SDR anyway.

In the case of storage or purely forwarding activities, however, there is now a good doubling of the maximum liability limits. The maximum limit for storage on order will also be raised to € 25,000.00 per case of damage. In such cases, the declaration of value pursuant to Section 3.3 ADSp 2016 shall gain significance, as the customer may increase liability to € 50.00/kg or € 10,000.00/package.

Other changes

It has also been regulated that the loading and unloading time may not exceed two hours and otherwise demurrage is due. In this respect, in the absence of an agreement, there is a staggering according to Euro pallet locations or weight to be turned over. This is regulated in Section 11.1 ADSp 2016.

Uncertainty due to ADSp 2016 and DTLB

After the negotiations with the shippers had failed, the German Forwarding and Logistics Association has now published its own new ADSp. Unlike its predecessor, this is no longer a jointly negotiated set of rules. Accordingly, the shipped industry associations have meanwhile developed their own conditions under the name DTLB (Deutsche Transport- und Lagerbedingungen). It remains to be seen whether the ADSp 2016 and the DTLB will meet the requirements under the law of the General Terms and Conditions (§§ 307 ff. BGB). As the respective sets of conditions have no longer been negotiated jointly, a stricter examination of their appropriateness by the courts may be carried out. The further development remains to be seen.

Companies should also check whether their insurance cover through the use of the new conditions is still adequate. In addition, companies thinking of switching to ADSp 2016 or DTLB should ensure that they are properly included. This applies in particular to framework agreements.

Should you require support with regard to ADSp 2016 or DTLB, we are at your disposal at any time. Please feel free to contact us.

Dieser Artikel wurde am 10. August 2018 erstellt. Er wurde am 30. September 2023 aktualisiert. Die fachliche Zweitprüfung hat Rechtsanwalt Dr. Tristan Wegner durchgeführt.

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