General Terms and Conditions of LTS Überführungs GmbH

Section 1 – Scope
1. The deliveries, services and offers of LTS Überführungs GmbH (hereinafter “LTS”) shall be provided exclusively on the basis of these General Terms and Conditions. These are a constituent of all agreements that LTS concludes with its clients and contractors.

2. Any terms and conditions of the client shall not apply, including if LTS in the individual case does not separately object to these. Even if LTS refers to correspondence that includes terms and conditions of the client or contractor or refers to such, this shall not be deemed to be any agreement to the scope of those terms and conditions.

3. The conditions apply to freight agreements in accordance with sections 407 to 449 HGB (German Commercial Code) and sections 452 to 452d HGB (multi-modal transport) in commercial road transport with vehicles as well as to own account transactions of the carrier as per section 458 HGB.

4. The conditions shall apply to carriage in domestic transport and to cross-border carriage insofar as these are not contradicted by the rules of the CMR (Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road) as well as to cabotage transport in other member states of the European Union and the EEA (European Economic Area) if no mandatory rules of the accepting member state contradict these conditions.

Section 2 – Issuing orders, legal authorisation, use of implementing freight drivers
1. The issue of an order by clients of LTS includes the issue of legal authorisation that extends to all commercial law actions and declarations necessary to carry out the order up to the fulfilment of the order or its cancellation.

2. LTS is entitled to have transports implemented by implementing freight drivers (sub-freight drivers).

3. On the issue of an order all data and documents that are required to carry out the order must be submitted to LTS.

4. The written order confirmation or the written quotation of LTS, including these General Terms and Conditions, shall be solely authoritative for the legal relationships between the client and LTS. These reproduce all agreements between the contracting parties on the object of the agreement. Any verbal commitments made by LTS are legally non-binding and verbal agreements of the contracting parties shall be replaced by a written agreement if nothing explicitly arises from these that they apply as binding.

5. Any supplements to or amendments of the agreements made, including to these General Terms and Conditions, shall only be effective in writing.

Section 3 – Prices and payment
1. The prices of LTS apply to the agreed scope of service plus Value-Added Tax. Additional and special services, such as securing loads and straps, including material costs, shall be invoiced separately.

2. Invoice amounts shall be paid within fourteen days of the receipt of the invoice without any deductions if nothing to the contrary has been agreed in writing. Accordingly, payment arrears occur if the arrears have not been previously incurred according to the law. Section 288 BGB (German Civil Code) applies to interest on arrears.

3. LTS is entitled to assign claims against customers based in Germany and EU countries to abcfinance GmbH, Kamekestr. 2-8, 50672 Cologne, for refinancing. The buyer will be informed upon conclusion of the contract whether an assignment of the claim will take place. In these cases, payments with a debt-discharging effect can only be made to abcfinance GmbH. The buyer will be informed of its bank details upon conclusion of the contract.

Section 4 – Rights and obligations of the client
1. The clients of LTS shall hand over the cargo in a condition safe for carriage as per section 411 HGB. The required and properly completed accompanying paperwork (sections 410, 413 HGB) shall also be handed over.

2. The clients of LTS are obliged to notify if vehicles, vehicle combinations and trailers, including any exchangeable load carriers, also to be transported, will exceed the maximum permissible width, the maximum permissible height or the maximum permissible length in accordance with section 32 (2) StVZO (German Highway Code). The client shall be liable for all losses incurred by LTS arising from a breach of the duty of notification in sentence 1.

3. The clients of LTS shall for a vehicle transport ensure punctual vehicle handover at the agreed location on the transport date (loading). In the event of transports on the vehicle’s own axles the vehicle must be in running order and must not have any faults that would impair use in accordance with the StVZO. If a vehicle to be transported is not at the agreed location or cannot be transported due to a defect or considerable fault, 75% of the agreed price shall be invoiced if the client cannot prove a higher proportion of saved expenses. In the event of transports on the vehicle’s own axles clients shall be liable for all losses that LTS incurs due to technical faults on the vehicle, insufficient accompanying paperwork or other documentation (approvals paperwork, customs paperwork etc.).

4. The clients of LTS shall ensure that the order can be ended by the delivery of the vehicle at the agreed destination (discharging).

5. Transports that breach legal provisions shall not be carried out. If a breach of the law that is in the area of responsibility of the client is identified before the start of the transport and if this means the transport is unreasonable, 75% of the agreed price shall be invoiced, if the client cannot prove a higher proportion of saved expenses. If a breach of the law that is in the area of responsibility of the client is identified by LTS or a third party, in particular by the authorities responsible, during the transport and if as a result the continuation of the transport becomes impossible or unreasonable, the order shall be interrupted and the agreed price shall be invoiced in full, if the client cannot prove that any expenses have been saved. The client shall be liable for all losses incurred by LTS due to breaches of the law that are in the area of responsibility of the client.

Section 5 – Demurrage
1. The loading and discharging time for loading in accordance with section 4 (3) sentence 1 and for discharging in accordance with section 4 (4) of these General Terms and Conditions shall generally amount to one hour, if this is not an unreasonably short loading or discharging time. In this case the loading and discharging time shall be extended appropriately.

2. The loading and discharging time shall begin on the arrival of the road vehicle at the loading or discharging point (e.g. reporting to the gate) and ends when the client or consignee has met their obligations in full. If a specific service time has been agreed for the presentation of the road vehicle to customs at the loading or discharging point, the loading or discharging time shall not begin before the time agreed for presentation to customs.

3. If the loading and discharging time in accordance with paragraph 1 is exceeded for reasons that are not attributable to the area of risk of LTS, the client shall pay LTS demurrage of €60 for each hour commenced.

Section 6 – Delivery dates
1. LTS shall make every effort to comply with the delivery dates requested by the client. Binding delivery dates require an agreement between the parties in writing.

2. LTS shall not accept any liability for a delivery delay caused by circumstances for which LTS is not responsible such as accidents, traffic jams, adverse weather, official actions, strikes etc.

Section 7 – Liability of LTS
1. The liability of LTS in cross-border transport is oriented on the regulations of the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR).

2. In national road freight transport LTS shall be liable in accordance with the provisions of the German Commercial Code, in particular sections 407 to 450 HGB.

3. If the conditions of the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) and the regulations of sections 407 to 450 HGB do not contradict this, the liability of LTS to pay compensation shall, regardless of the legal grounds, insofar as there is culpability, be restricted as follows:

  1. LTS shall not be liable in the event of ordinary negligence of its management bodies, legal representatives or other vicarious agents, insofar as there has not been a breach of a material contractual obligation.
  2. Insofar as LTS is liable to pay compensation, this liability is limited to losses that LTS foresaw as possible consequences of a breach of contract on the conclusion of the agreement or that LTS should have foreseen in application of the care usual in transport.
  3. The restrictions of section 7 (3) (a) and (b) shall not apply to the liability of LTS due to intentional conduct as well as due to death, personal injury or damage to health.

Section 8 – Offsetting rights and rights of retention
1. Offsetting rights and rights of retention of the client are only admissible with legally established, recognised or undisputed receivables.

2. The client is only entitled to the assignment of claims against the contractor to third parties after the consent of the client has been given in writing. Section 354a HGB remains unaffected.

Section 9 – Lien right and right of retention
1. LTS shall have the right to a lien and a right of retention due to all receivables that are due and not due for payment, to which it is entitled in accordance with these conditions, to the client to goods or other valuables that are in its possession. The lien right and right of retention do not extend beyond the statutory lien right and right of retention.

2. LTS may only exercise a lien right due to receivables from other agreements concluded with the client in accordance with these conditions insofar as these are undisputed. A right of retention may only be exercised if the debtor’s financial situation endangers the company’s receivable.

3. In place of the notice period set in section 1234 BGB a period of two weeks shall apply in all cases.

4. If the client is in arrears, LTS may, after providing a notice of sale, sell any goods and valuables in its possession of a quantity that at its discretion is necessary for satisfaction.

5. In all cases LTS may invoice a sales commission of net revenue at rates usual for the area for lien and self-redress sales.

Section 10 – Storage of carriage and accompanying paperwork
LTS shall dispose of all original carriage and accompanying paperwork, in particular CMR consignment notes, commercial invoices, packing lists, delivery notes, proof of delivery and customs documents, four weeks after the end of the respective order. After the expiry of the aforementioned period the documents specified shall be stored at LTS merely in digital form within the scope of digital document management (DMS).

Section 11 – Court of jurisdiction
The exclusive court of jurisdiction for all legal disputes arising from this Agreement or in connection with it for all parties involved shall be that of the registered office of LTS in Henstedt-Ulzburg, if no mandatory legal regulations contradict this. Otherwise the law applies.

Section 12 – Applicable law
The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies to all agreements made in accordance with these conditions.

Section 13 – Severability clause
In the event of the ineffectiveness of individual constituents of an agreement the remainder of the agreement shall remain effective. In this case the contracting parties are obliged to take a regulation with regard to the ineffective parts that comes as close as possible to the desired financial result.