(Seminar site)

On May 17, 2019, the First Seminar on Legal Risk Prevention and Dispute Resolution in the International Freight Forwarders Industry, co-sponsored by China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC) and China International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFA), was successfully held in Beijing. Nearly 200 representatives from freight forwarding enterprises, law firms, universities and other organizations attended the seminar.

(Mr. LIU Xuede, Secretary General of CIFA)

Liu Xuede, Secretary General of CIFA, pointed out in his speech that the legal system is the best foundation for improving the business environment, law is the best measure for testing business activities, and compliance with law is the best guarantee to safeguard rights. Governing according to law and regulating behaviors are not only related to the business environment but also to the interests of enterprises. As early as 2016, international disputes in the freight forwarding industry occurred frequently, causing great damage to the owners or agents. In order to enhance the risk control awareness of enterprises, CIFA and CMAC jointly drafted the "Model Terms of International Freight Forwarder Contract", which attracted the high attention of enterprises in the industry. He hoped that this seminar could provide expert advice to freight forwarding enterprises, exchange the latest achievements, promote the high-quality development of freight forwarding logistics industry, and create a better business environment. 

(Mr. GU Chao, Secretary General of CMAC)

In his speech, the secretary general of CMAC said that with the advancement of the One Belt And One Road initiative, the construction of maritime power and transportation power, the international freight forwarding industry ushered in an unprecedented development opportunity. On the other hand, the ever-changing international trade situation leads to a large number of freight forwarder disputes, and presents a trend of diversification and complexity. Therefore, the industry is in urgent need of the application of an efficient and professional arbitration dispute settlement mechanism. CMAC hopes to work with CIFA to expand the service functions, to help the industry and enterprises to continuously improve the ability of risk prevention and dispute response, and promote the healthy development of the freight forwarding industry at a deeper level. This seminar focused on two topics: "Development of International Freight Forwarding Industry and Improvement of Legal Risk System under the New Situation" and "Legal Risk Prevention Practice of International Freight Forwarder Business". They are presided over the meeting respectively by Mr. WANG Xingrong, Minister of Financial Development of International Shipping and Financial Development Promotion Center of Tianjin Dongjiang Bonded Port Area Management Committee, and Mr. ZHANG Wenguang, Associate researcher of Institute of international law of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Deputy Director and Secretary General of the Supreme People's Court's "One Belt and One Road" Judicial Research Base and Arbitrator of CMAC.

(From top left to bottom right are Ms. WANG Xinrong, Mr. YANG Yuntao, Mr. JIANG Yuechuan and Ms. XIE Changqing)

In the first topic, Mr. YANG Yuntao, Vice Minister of Transportation and Logistics Department and Beijing Headquarter of China Merchants Group, Director of Legal Work Committee of CIFA, Arbitrator of CMAC, delivered a speech entitled "New Trends of International Freight Forwarders Industry", sharing the new trends of international freight forwarders industry. This speech introduced the background and main contents of FIATA's best practice guide on demurrage charges, and the collection of demurrage charges at Chinese ports. Based on the background and progress of IATA-FIATA air cargo project, this paper introduces China's opinions on the version of IFACP, and discusses the two development directions of the real right certificate of international railway waybill and the promotion of TIR in China. Mr. JIANG Yuechuan, Vice President and Vice Professor of Law School of Dalian Maritime University, and arbitrator of CMAC, analyzed the significance and difficulties of accurately identifying the legal relationship of freight forwarder contracts, and introduced the identification of legal relationship of freight forwarder contracts under several specific circumstances, focusing on the legal risk of the operation of freight forwarding enterprises. Including whether the forwarder and domestic seller establish the legal relationship of freight forwarder contract under FOB trade, the identification of the legal relationship of the freight forwarder contract under sub-entrustment and the legal status of the carrier's space booking and bill signing agent. He finally put forward that enterprises should make clear the legal relationship between the contract object and the relevant third party according to the requirements and different situations of the transaction objects. Ms. XIE Changqing, Deputy Secretary-General of CMAC, with "Arrangement and Risk Control of Arbitration Clause for Freight Forwarding Enterprises under New Foreign Trade Situation" as title, combining with the characteristics of forwarding disputes, introduced the advantages of arbitration in such aspects as speed and efficiency, expert award, autonomy of parties' consciousness, convenience of transnational execution and business characteristics of CMAC. And through actual cases, she analyzed the effect of unfavourable and imperfect arbitration clauses on fair, efficient and low-cost dispute settlement, as well as the establishment principles of arbitration clauses and negotiation strategies.

(From left to right are Mr. ZHANG Wenguang, Mr. GUAN Zhengyi and Mr. ZHANG Jiasheng)

In the second topic, Mr. Guan Zhengyi, professor of Dalian Maritime University, doctoral supervisor, and director of Liaoning Office of CMAC took the title of "Application of Law to International Freight Forwarder Disputes and Case Analysis" to analyze two main reasons that international freight forwarder business can easily lead to legal disputes. First, under the legal relationship of entrustment, their identities will be diversified as shippers or even carriers of maritime transport, or double agents. Second, the understanding and application of some legal provisions in maritime transport are not accurate, so that the simple agency is involved in maritime transport disputes. Therefore, it is suggested that freight forwarding enterprises must sign the entrustment contract, clarify the entrustment matters, try to avoid the situation of double agency and multiple identities in one business, and pay attention to not violating the relevant mandatory provisions of the Maritime Law in handling maritime transportation. Focusing on the theme of "Interpretation of the Freight Forwarder Model Clause under the New Trade Environment and the Characteristics of the Freight Forwarder Model Contract Compared with the Traditional Freight Forwarder Contract", Mr. ZHANG Jiasheng, the partner of SLOMA & Co and the arbitrator of CMAC, analyzed how the freight forwarding industry should keep up and develop under the new trade environment of the Internet, big data and the Internet of Things. He pointed out that the freight logistics as foundation will always exist, and the competition can be increasingly fierce. So we should look beyond the traditional risks and focus on those arising in the new trade environment, such as the control of details of sub-entrusting and entrusting, especially the information and data in the operation of the forwarder which can be important evidential materials in the occurrence and settlement of disputes, to liberate productivity, reduce costs, increase efficiency and prevents risks.

(From left to right are Ms. SHI Ge and Ms. QI Ji)

Ms. SHI Ge, Senior Director of Legal Affairs, Risk Management Department of Sinotrans, focusing on the "Interpretation of Warehousing Risks and Relevant Clauses", analyzed the contractual relationship and business model of freight forwarding enterprises engaged in warehousing business. She sorted out the risks of warehousing business from the three aspects of the consigners, the storage sites and the forwarders' own performance. On this basis, she summarized the standard operating process of warehousing business and introduces the provisions of key links such as warehousing, storage and delivery, so as to provide effective risk prevention suggestions for freight forwarding enterprises engaged in warehousing business. Mr. QI Ji, Deputy Director of the Business Development Office of CMAC, took the title of "Several Issues for the Parties of Freight Forwarding Enterprises to Pay Attention to in the Arbitration Procedure", shared how the parties participated in the arbitration process from three aspects of preservation, interpretation of the Arbitration Rules and mediation. She emphasized the importance of preserving procedures, evidence collection, mediation and other measures that enterprises can took to protect their legitimate interests. It is also suggested that the parties should carefully consider how to file an arbitration claim, select arbitrators, as well as the details that should be paid attention to in key aspects of the arbitration procedure, such as panel and hearing on the basis of understanding the Arbitration Rules. 

(Participants actively ask questions and exchange views)

During the interactive exchange session, participants actively spoke and took an active part in the discussion, creating a warm atmosphere. Finally, Mr. YANG Yuntao said in the closing speech that the seminar had a positive meaning in further standardizing the practical operation of freight forwarding enterprises, improving their legal risk prevention awareness and dispute processing ability, hoping CMAC and CIFA to build more high-level and high-quality professional communication platforms to promote the sustainable development of freight forwarding industry.