US's Terms and Condition of Waybill
Terms and Conditions of Waybill
When using SF’s services, you, as “Shipper”, agree, on your behalf and on behalf of the receiver of the Shipment (“Receiver”) and anyone else with an interest in the Shipment that these Terms and Conditions shall apply.
1 Definitions
1.1 "SF", “us” and “our” refers to S.F. EXPRESS CORPORATION (CA), its subsidiaries, branches, affiliates, agents, and independent contractors, who have accepted your Shipment.
1.2 "Shipment" means all packages which are tendered to and accepted by us on one waybill.
1.3 "Personal Data" means any data relating directly or indirectly to an individual, from which it is possible and practical to ascertain the identity of the individual from the said data, in a form in which access to or processing of the data is practicable.
1.4 “T&C” refers to these terms and conditions and are subject to change by SF from time to time at its own discretion without prior notification. For the avoidance of doubt, any such change shall become effective and binding on the Shipper upon its publication on the official website of SF.
1.5 A “waybill” shall include any Shipment identifier or document produced by SF or Shipper automated systems such as a label, customs invoice or destination specific documents, barcode or waybill as well as any electronic version thereof.
2 Data Privacy Policy
SF is committed to safeguard the Personal Data provided by the Shipper. In relation to the collection, use, processing, retention, disclosure, transfer, security and access of the Personal Data, SF shall comply with applicable laws and regulations as well as the relevant code of practice issued by SF. Shipper hereby warrant that he/she has obtained such Personal Data lawfully and has obtained consent from the Receiver to provide such Personal Data to SF. Please refer to the Data Privacy Policy Statement published on the official website of SF (https://www.sf-international.com/us/en/Privacy_Policy/).
3 SF’s liability
3.1 SF’s liability in respect of any one Shipment, including but not limited to the liability of loss, damage (whether in full or partially), is strictly limited to direct loss only and to the limits stipulated in this clause 3. All other types of loss or damage are excluded (including but not limited to indirect loss or damage, actual use, business opportunities, loss of earnings, lost profits, income, interest and future business), whether such loss or damage is special or indirect, and even if the risks of such loss or damage was brought to SF’s attention before or after acceptance of the Shipment.
3.2 SF’s liability in respect of any one Shipment shall be limited to the stipulation of the following:
3.2.1 If the carriage of a Shipment combines carriage by air and involves an ultimate destination or stop in a country other than the country of departure, without prejudice to clauses 10 and 13, the Warsaw Convention or the Montreal Convention, whichever is compulsorily applicable, will apply. In the case where such Conventions are inapplicable, SF’s liability is limited to the Declared Value but shall in no event exceed the lesser of USD100 or USD20/kg or USD9.07/lb. If the carriage of a Shipment combines carriage by air, road or other mode of transport, it shall be presumed that any loss or damage occurred during the air period unless proven otherwise. or
3.2.2 Where Shipments are carried only by road, SF’s liability shall be subject to the Convention for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR), or in the case where CMR is inapplicable, SF’s liability is limited to the Declared Value but shall in no event exceed the lesser of USD100 or USD10/kg or USD4.54/lb (not applicable to the United States). Such limits will also apply to national road transportation in the absence of any mandatory or lower liability limits in the applicable national transport law.
3.2.3 Claims are limited to one claim per Shipment, settlement of which shall be full and final for all loss or damage in connection therewith. IF SHIPPER REGARDS THESE LIMITS AS INSUFFICIENT, IT MUST PURCHASE SPP OR MAKE ITS OWN INSURANCE ARRANGEMENTS.
3.2.4 Unless contrary to applicable laws, all claims concerning shipment damage or shortage (visible or hidden) must be submitted in writing to SF within 7 calendar days upon shipment delivery, and in case of route interruption, such claims must be submitted in writing to SF within 30 calendar days from the date SF accepted the Shipment; otherwise SF shall no longer assume any liability whatsoever. SF is not obligated to act on any claim until all Shipment charges have been paid. The Shipment charges shall not be offset against the claim amount. Receipt of the Shipment by the Receiver without written notice of damage on the delivery record is prima facie evidence that the Shipment was delivered in good condition. As a condition for SF to consider any claim for loss or damage the Receiver must make the contents, original shipping and packing materials available for inspection by SF.
3.2.5 All assessment regarding the degree of damage on or the portion missing from the Shipment shall be at the sole and absolute discretion of SF.
4 Unacceptable Shipments
Shipper agrees that its Shipment is deemed unacceptable if:
4.1 it is classified as hazardous material, dangerous goods, prohibited or restricted articles by International Air Transport Association, International Civil Aviation Organization, European Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) , any applicable government department or other relevant organization;
4.2 no customs declaration is made when required by applicable customs regulations;
4.3 the goods are classified as dangerous goods or SF believes that it cannot be carried safely or legally, including but not limited to animals and parts thereof, currency, bearer instruments, negotiable instruments, counterfeit goods, precious metals and stones, firearms and parts thereof, ammunitions, human remains, pornography, illegal narcotics/drugs,infringing products; or
4.4 Receiver’s address is incorrect, incomplete or not properly marked or Shipment’s packaging is defective or inadequate to be carried safely with ordinary and reasonable care. SF shall have the absolute right to deal with the Shipment as it sees fit, including destroy any unacceptable Shipment as specified in this clause.
5 Right to Inspect
SF may open and inspect the Shipment without notice at any time for safety, security, customs or other regulatory reasons. If the Shipper is entrusted by others to send Shipments, the Shipper is also required to provide identity proof of the actual consignor. SF shall not be responsible for any loss or any delay caused to the Shipment due to such inspection.
6 Shipper’s Warranties and Indemnity
Shipper shall indemnify and hold SF harmless for any loss or damage in connection or resulting from the Shipper’s failure to comply with any applicable laws or regulations and for the Shipper’s breach of the following warranties and representations, and SF shall be entitled to reject the Shipper’s shipping order in the future,regardless of whether SF accepts, checks, inspects or rejects the Shipment this time or not:
6.1 all information provided by the Shipper or its representative(s) is legible, complete and accurate;
6.2 if the Shipper authorizes another person to complete the information on his, her or its behalf, the completed information shall be confirmed by the Shipper in person and the risks arising from the acts of the authorized person shall be taken by the Shipper;
6.3 the Shipment was prepared securely and sufficiently packed to ensure safe transportation with ordinary and reasonable care and was protected against unauthorized interference during preparation, storage and transportation to SF;
6.4 if the Shipper authorizes another person to pack the Shipment on his, her or its behalf, the Shipper shall make sure that the Shipment is securely and sufficiently packed to ensure safe transportation with ordinary and reasonable care, that SF is protected against unauthorized interference during Shipment preparation, storage and transportation, and that the risks arising from the acts of the authorized person shall be taken by the Shipper;
6.5 the Shipment is properly described and correctly labelled;
6.6 the Shipment shall be obliged to comply with all applicable customs, import, export, data protection laws and other laws and regulations of the origin, destination, and transit countries
6.7 Shipper has obtained all necessary consents in relation to Receiver’s Personal Data provided and disclosed to SF;
6.8 unless otherwise specified, the Shipper shall provide correct customs clearance documents and/or pay duties and provide duty receipts in a timely manner;
6.9 the Shipment shall not contain official documents issued by government agencies, wild animals protected by the state, endangered wild animals and their products, counterfeit, fake and infringing articles and other articles prohibited or restricted by laws and regulations; and shall not jeopardize the national security, public security and legal rights of citizens, legal persons and other organizations through delivery channels;
6.10 the waybill has been agreed and confirmed by the Shipper or the Shipper’s authorized representative on its behalf and on behalf of the Receiver and anyone else with an interest in the Shipment and these T&C constitute binding and enforceable obligations of the Shipper and its representatives;
6.11 regardless of whether SF accepts or rejects a Shipment, it shall not be constituted a waiver of the Shipper’s Warranties and Indemnity under this clause 6 or SF’s limitation of liability under clause 3 hereof;
6.12 Shipper shall not jeopardize the national security, public security, or legal rights of citizens, entities or other organizations; and
6.13 all representations and information in relation to the Shipment (including HTS code) and the customs clearance provided by Shipper is true, correct and complete. SF shall assume no responsibility for the contents of any related documents.
7 Declared Value
7.1 The Shipper agrees the declared value on this waybill is equivalent to the actual cash value of the Shipment (“Declared Value”). The Declared Value of a Shipment must be evident by an authentic, valid and original commercial invoice or receipt, which SF shall have the sole and absolute discretion to accept, inspect and verify thereof to its satisfaction or to reject thereof without giving any reason. For any shipment with Declared Value in excess of the limit of declared value published on the official website of SF, the Shipper agrees that SF is entitled for additional charges in accordance with SF’s charging standards.
7.2 For the avoidance of doubt, regardless of whether SF accepts or rejects a Shipment with a Declared Value specified on the waybill, it shall not be constituted a waiver of the Shipper’s Warranties and Indemnity under clause 6 hereof or SF’s limitation of liability under clause 3 hereof. Save and except Shipment that acquires the Shipment Protection Plus Service, SF’s entire liability shall be limited to clause 3 hereof.
8 Transport and Routing
Shipper acknowledges and agrees to all routing and diversion, including the possibility that the Shipment may be carried via intermediate stopping places.
9 Customs Clearance
9.1 If Shipper appoints SF as the agent solely for the purpose of clearing and entering the Shipment through customs, SF may itself complete or authorize a third party or redirect the Shipment to Receiver’s import broker or other address upon request by any person whom SF believes in its reasonable opinion to be authorized to perform customs clearances and/or entries.
9.2 To the extent that SF may voluntarily assist Shipper in completing the required customs and other formalities, such assistance will be rendered at Shipper’s sole risk and expense (including paying customs duties, VAT and other fees arising therefrom to local customs authorities on Shipper’s behalf). If any customs authority requires additional documentation for the purpose of confirming the import/export declaration, it is Shipper’s responsibility to provide the required documentation at Shipper’s expense.
9.3 If customs clearance documents, payment of duties, or cargo handling instruction is required by customs authorities but the Shipper or Receiver delays, fails or rejects to fulfill the same, which result in any retention in customs authorities, SF’s warehouse or any third party’s warehouse, Shipper shall be liable for all risks, costs, loss and damages arising therefrom. Unless otherwise specified by local laws of the country where the Shipment is detained, during the period of 30 calendar days upon the date SF issued the written notice, Shipper fails to offer any handling solution or proposes a solution that is objectively impractical to execute, Shipper shall be deemed as relinquishing the Shipment and SF shall have rights to deal with the Shipment as it sees fit, including destroy any Shipment detained or held in customs authorities, SF’s warehouse or any third party’s warehouse.
9.4 SF shall have rights to collect from Shipper any loss and damages, fine or penalty required by the government authorities and any other costs or fees arising from and caused by Shipper’s failure of performing the obligations hereunder (including without limitation storage fee, tally fee, inspection fee, destruction fee, cancellation fee, etc.).
9.5 If Shipper expressly require to authorize a third party by itself to provide the customs clearance service, SF will only provide the transportation service and any risks or disputes in connection with customs clearance shall be handled by and between Shipper and the said third party.
9.6 Shipper expressly aware and agree that not every customs or government authorities office in each exporting or importing country will issue duty or tax receipts for each Shipment, while SF Express will use its reasonable efforts to provide the Shipper with such receipts or information ifpossible (including but not limited to any of the following forms: a) notice or certificate issued by the local customs or government authorities; b) screenshots of customs or government authorities; c) paymentvoucher or invoice of the duties, taxes or charges issued by or SF’s local customs clearance agency or logistics suppliers or their system’s screenshots; d) total charges statement of the bulk shipments which involve the Shipper’s Shipment; e) duties, taxes or charges invoice issued by SF etc.). Shipper shall have no objection to any of the form aforesaid and shall not be refuse to pay the duty, tax or customs clearance fees. In the event that SF can only provide the total charges statement of the bulk shipments, Shipper agree that the record of the Shipment’s duties, taxes and charges on the SF’s system shall prevail.
10 Delay of Shipments
SF will make reasonable efforts to deliver the Shipment according to SF’s regular delivery schedules and arrangements. However, these schedules are not binding and do not form part of the contract between SF and Shipper and/or Receiver. SF is not liable for any damages or losses whatsoever arising as a result of the delay caused by SF.
11 Deliveries and Undeliverable
11.1 Shipments cannot be delivered to addresses consisting solely of Post Office Boxes (PO boxes) or postal codes or ZIP codes. Shipments will be delivered to the Receiver’s address given by Shipper, but it is not necessary to the named Receiver personally.
11.2 If the Shipment cannot be delivered to a PO box or by postal code, but a shipment receiving point is set as the receiver's address, the Shipment will be delivered to the receiving point.
11.3 Direct Signature (by receiver) Service is an option value-added services. If Shipper requires a written received signature of the Receiver, Direct Signature shall be purchased separately.
11.4 For the avoidance of doubt, a signature or a chop obtained at the Receiver’s address, SF Store or SF Business Station, or a shipment collection record generated by SF’s system for Shipment delivered to Locker, shall constitute sufficient proof of delivery of the Shipment. Shipments to addresses with central receiving area will be delivered accordingly.
11.5 If the following events occur, SF may use reasonable efforts to return the Shipment to the Shipper with the Shipper’s requirement and at the Shipper’s additional costs if the practical conditions permit: the Receiver refuses delivery or to pay for shipment charges or customs duties; or the Shipment is deemed to be unacceptable in accordance with clause 4; or customs believes that the value of the Shipment value has been under-reported; or the Receiver cannot be reasonably identified or located. Notwithstanding the forgoing, if the Shipment cannot be returned or is impossible to be returned, it may be released, disposed of or sold by SF without incurring any liability whatsoever to the Shipper or anyone else, with the proceeds applied against service charges and related administrative costs and the balance (if any) to be returned to the Shipper.
12 Shipment Charges, Tariff and other charges
12.1 SF’s Shipment charges are calculated according to the higher of actual or volumetric weight and Shipment may be re-weighted and re-measured by SF to confirm this calculation.
12.2 Shipper will always be primarily responsible for all charges regardless of different payment instruction given by Shipper. Shipper shall pay on demand all shipping and/or other charges or tariff (customs duties) not paid when due by the Receiver for Receiver billing or by third party for third party billing.
12.3 Service standards of international shipments shall be subject to local pickup and delivery service standards at the place of the receiver. Value-added service shall be purchased separately if needed, including but not limited to signature for acceptance by the receiver.
13 Shipment Protection Plus Service
13.1 Shipment Protection Plus Service is an optional value-added service.
13.2 If Shipper choose the Shipment Protection Plus Service, SF’s liability shall be governed by Terms and Conditions of Shipment Protection Plus Service published on the official website of SF in place of Clause 3 hereof, but other provisions of these Terms and Conditions shall continue to apply.
13.3 For the avoidance of doubt, unless otherwise stipulated in this Clause, all provisions concerning SF’s liabilities shall be governed by Clause 3 hereof.
14 Circumstances beyond SF’s Control
SF is not liable for any loss or damage caused by any events beyond SF’s control, including but not limited to acts of public authorities acting with actual or apparent authority; any act or omission by a person not employed or contracted by SF, e.g. Shipper, Receiver, customs, government officials or third party; the application of security regulations imposed by the government or otherwise applicable to the delivery location; Force Majeure - e.g. riots, strikes, labour disputes, civil unrest, virus or diseases, disruptions or failure of communication and information systems (including, but not limited to SF’s communication and information systems), disruptions of any kind in air or ground transportation networks, such as weather phenomena, industrial action, electrical or magnetic damage to, or erasure of electronic or photographic images, data or recordings, and natural disasters including but not limited to earthquakes, cyclone, storm, flood, fog etc.
15 Right of Lien
Unless otherwise stipulated in applicable laws, in the event that Shipper fails to pay any charges set forth in clause 12 or arisen under clause 9, SF shall have the right to place the goods under a lien for a period of three (3) months (counting from the date that SF collect the Shipment) save and except the nature of the shipment cannot be placed under a lien. At the expiration of the lien period, if Shipper has not yet make the payment fully, SF shall be entitled to sell off the shipment at a reasonable price and enjoy the priority of being paid off.
16 Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
Any dispute arising in connection with the T&C shall be governed by the law of California, USA. Any dispute arising in connection with these T&C shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of American Arbitration Association (AAA), unless contrary to applicable law.
17 Severability
The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision shall not affect any other part of these Terms and Conditions.
18 Governing Language
If there are different languages version of this Waybill (including these T&C), the English version shall prevail in the event of any inconsistency.
These T&C and the SF’s published rates and charges are subject to change without notice and any such change shall become effective upon publication on the official website of SF.
