The Australian Federation of International Forwarders (AFIF) said that it is not satisfied with the wording of the new IATA Conditions of Contract that came into force last month under IATA Resolution 600B and it has proposed that further wording be added to the face of the forwarder HAWB (or Neutral AWB, where used as a HAWB).
AFIF said in a statement that the following wording better explains the conditions of contract regarding carriage : "The conditions of contract on the reverse hereof, including the conditions of carriage referred to in those conditions of contract, apply not only to carriage between airport of departure and airport of destination, but also to all other carriage referred to in those conditions of contract and all otherservices provided by the carrier."
AFIF chief executive, Brian Lovell said the additional wording had been suggested to members because the new IATA Conditions of Contract do not adequately define the term ‘Carriage’ for their protection. The new Conditions of Contract have required freight forwarders to review their trading conditions and the application of those conditions to the services which they provide to their customers.
AFIF recently organised a series of seminars for its members covering the changed Conditions of Contract with Peter McQueen, partner of Blake Dawson providing legal advice.
McQueen said it was disappointing that the redraft of the Conditions of Contract do not contain a definition of ‘carriage’ nor clarification of their application to the provision of services under the air waybill outside airport ofdeparture to airport of destination.