ICC Digital Library Forum

Can anyone please share their opinion on this article.
An AWB was presented to us with this notation "Carrier certifies goods described herein where received for carriage subject to the conditions on the reverse hereof, the goods being in apparrent good order and condition except as noted hereon."

Does AWB need to have the word "accepted for carriage" or the word "received for carriage" (as stated from the AWB caption above) acceptable.

A VARIATION OF DISCLAIMER CLAUSE BY THE CARRIER’S LAWYERS

An AWB was presented to us with this notation "Carrier certifies goods described herein where received for carriage subject to the conditions on the reverse hereof, the goods being in apparent good order and condition except as noted hereon."

This is a form of disclaimer clause. It assumes that the goods are received in good condition as a default, unless an endorsement appears on the same AWB that indicates clearly that the packaging or goods has some defects or not airworthy.

Such clause is usually the brainchild of the air transport lawyers who have to show to their clients that they are worth the money. However, such clauses would raise suspicion from the document checkers but they should not make the AWB discrepant for the same reason.

Suspicion is not a valid reason for a discrepancy, as we have said in other postings.

AMOUR ONESELF BEFORE STEPPING FORWARD TO THE BATTLEFIELD

If bankers have interest to deal with such clauses, they have to equip themselves with knowledge on air transport operations. Otherwise they cannot handle them well.

If one wishes to eat a steak, well done, one must prepare a sharp and serrated meat knife. If one does not want to buy the knife, one may ask somebody who has it to come and help.

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[edited 11/16/02 3:28:01 PM]

If I understand your question correctly your concern is the word "received" instead of "accepted" as stated in UCP. In my opinion the AWB you described could be acceptable to a document checker in the sense of article 27(a)(ii). The word "received" means to me that the goods also have been accepted.
Best regards
Heinz

If the goods are received subject to certain terms & conditions, those terms & conditions cannot be imposed unless the goods have been accepted. Therefore in the initial posting, the phrase used is equivalent to "accepted".

Laurence

Heinz & Laurence,

I woke up at 10 am this morning (after retirng at about 4.30 am last night, working on an Expert's Report) and my warm welcome to Heinz!

Whilst I agree your common sense approach to treat "receive" as "accept", however, from my experience as a court witness, this may not necessarily be so if this matter is put in the hands of a barrister because s/he may ask you:

"Gentleman, if you had signed for receipt of a Christmas air parcel from your retired girl friend, and later found a mini bomb inside it, did it also mean that you would accept it?"

The purpose of this input is to make the Discussion Forum livelier. I am not trying to be difficult.

To be prudent, sometimes in DC operations, from risk management point of view, we may have to think also “What If (this ends up in a court of law)?”

As a consultant, I always have such thoughts, by default.

T. O.
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[edited 11/19/02 6:35:09 PM]

T.O.

your allusion to acceptance of a mini bomb appears to be unequivocal, whereas I referred to acceptance under certain terms and conditions. If carriers were to fully accept goods, they would have to open every carton and examine/test every article within. This is not a practical option, so they cover their liabilities and their acceptance within their terms and conditions etc.

Laurence

Laurence,

Your point now understood. We use different basis for the interpretation of acceptance and receipt. Your acceptance is conditional, i.e. subject to the terms and conditions of carriage, including the disclaimers, as stipulated in most BsL.

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