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To
follow up of our Newsletter of October 8, 2010, we provide an English translation of Guidelines for China NVOCC freight filings (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines were issued by the Shanghai
Shipping Exchange (SSE) on October 8, 2010 pursuant to the provisions of Circular on Implementing Rules for Freight Filling of NVOCC issued by the China Ministry of Transport (M.O.T. 2010 No.40) on
September 19, 2010.
The translation in this newsletter is not an official translation by any government agencies. The law firm does not assume any legal responsibilities with regard to this translation; all readers
are recommended to consult the original language of the Guidelines in Chinese. This translation should be verified by cross-checking against the original text.
I. GENERAL PROVISION
(i)
For the purpose of regulating the pricing practices of China’s international container transport market, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of all relevant parties, pursuant to the
Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on International Maritime Transportation (the “Regulations”) and the Implementing Rules for NVOCC Freight Filing issued by the Ministry of Transport (the
“Implementing Rules”), these Guidelines are established.
(ii) All
legal entities with NVOCC licenses issued by the Ministry of Transport (the “MOT”) and operating NVOCC businesses are required to file freight rates and charges. A Parent company may file freight for its
subsidiaries, if the subsidiaries have NVOCC licenses but are not independent legal entities; alternatively, these subsidiaries with their parents’ authorization may file freight rates and charges by
themselves. A Foreign NVOCC may file freight rates and charges on its own behalf or authorize its designated agent to file freight rates and charges with the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (the “SSE”).
(iii) The Filed Rate must be the Rate quoted to the customer.
The quoted freight (range) refers to the freight recorded
in the NVOCC’s shipping records. The filed freight range refers to maximum rates and minimum rates. The quotations made to customers must fit within the range which should be filed in the format
required by these guidelines for published freight rates.
The freight range filed must be normal and reasonable, and higher than the negotiated rates with the liner companies.
(iv) NVOCCS shall use the standard filing form (electronic version). (The form can be downloaded at the SSE’s website WWW.SSE.NET.CN or the Chineseshipping website at WWW.CHINESESHIPPING.COM.CN .)
(v) The
Published freight shall be filed in CY/CY terms. If CY/CY terms cannot be used, an NVOCC shall explain this in the “Notes” sections.
(vi) All
contents of freight rates and charges filed by the NVOCCs who have filed freight rates and charges shall be consistent with those reflected in their operations.
(vii) An NVOCC shall
re-file the freight range after adjusting it. An NVOCC may not request another adjustment of freight range after the SSE receives its freight filing and before it takes effect.
(viii) An NVOCC shall provide notice
to the SSE ten (10) days before halting the operation of a shipping lane (port). The SSE will cancel the filed freight on the same day as the operation is halted by the filing NVOCC.
(ix) The accepted filed freight shall take effect after the SSE receives the filing at the following time:
1. Published freight (range)---after 30 days;
2. Surcharges---after 24 hours;
3. First filing ---same day.
(x) An NVOCC shall specify freight and all surcharges in its freight invoice.
(xi) An NVOCC shall charge only the effective filed freight.
(xii) Filed published freight rates will be published on the SSE’s website WWW.SSE.NET.CN and Chineseshipping website WWW.CHINESESHIPPING.COM.CN.
(xiii) Filed freight are base ports rates. The scope of base ports is determined by the Ministry of Transport.
II. FREIGHT FILING PROCEDURES
(i) Before the first filing, an NVOCC shall download an NVOCC Freight Filing Application Form from the SSE’s website WWW.SSE.NET.CN or Chineseshipping website WWW.CHINESESHIPPING.COM.CN,and fill out, execute and seal the form with the company’s stamp, and thereafter send the form via mail or facsimiles to the SSE.
(ii) An NVOCC shall download Freight Filing Form (Electronic version) from the SSE’s website WWW.SSE.NET.CN or Chineseshipping website WWW.CHINESESHIPPING.COM.CN and pursuant to the Guidelines (these can be downloaded from the SSE’s website WWW.SSE.NET.CN or Chineseshipping website WWW.CHINESESHIPPING.COM.CN), fill the form, and thereafter, file the form with the SSE via the e-mail address confirmed by the SSE.
(iii) The
SSE will review the format of the filing within 24 hours after receiving it. If the filing passes the review, the SSE will send a receipt of the filing via e-mail. Time of acceptance refers to the
time when the SSE receives the filing. If it fails to pass the review, the filing is invalid, and the SSE will give notice to the NVOCC filer via e-mail, and the NVOCC shall re-file the freight.
(iv) An NVOCC shall confirm receipt of the filing sent by the SSE within 24 hours after filing, which demonstrates that the filling is valid.
III. INSTRUCTIONS TO FILL THE APPLICATION FORMS
(i) An NVOCC shall submit a Freight Filing Application Form together with a copy of its Original NVOCC license.
(ii)
“Company’s Full Name (Chinese)”, “Company’s Full Name (English)”, “NVOCC License No.”, “NVOCC Place of Registration”, etc. shall be consistent with the contents recorded in the NVOCC license; an NVOCC’s
company stamp shall be consistent with the company’s full name. The legal representative’s signature for a foreign NVOCC shall be included together with that person’s name and title.
(iii) An
Authorization shall be submitted if a foreign NVOCC authorizes its agent to file freight. (See Appendix for Sample Authorization).
With respect to the “Company Address” in the Freight Filing Application form,
a NVOCC’s foreign business address shall be provided; the
agent’s name, address, telephone no., fax no., etc. shall be provided in the corresponding liaison sections of the application form.
(iv) A
parent company may either file freight together for its subsidiaries, which have NVOCC licenses but do not have independent legal entity qualifications, or may authorize its subsidiaries to file freight
on their own.
If filing for its subsidiaries, a parent company shall file freight for each subsidiary with an NVOCC license separately, and also fill the application form separately. “Company’s Full Name (Chinese)”,
“Company’s Full Name (English)”, “NVOCC License No.”, “NVOCC Place of Registration”, etc. shall be consistent with the contents recorded in each subsidiary’s NVOCC license; “Company Address” shall be
filled with the subsidiary’s address; the parents company’s name, address, telephone no., fax no., etc. shall be provided in the corresponding liaison sections of the application form. The
application form shall be stamped with the parent company’s seal, and the parent company shall bear pertinent responsibilities.
If filing on its own, a subsidiary shall fill the application form. “Company’s Full Name (Chinese)”, “Company’s Full Name (English)”, “NVOCC License No.”, “NVOCC Place of Registration”, etc. shall be
consistent with the contents recorded in its NVOCC license; “Company Address” shall be filled with the parents company’s address; the subsidiary’s name, address, telephone no., fax no., etc. shall be
provided in the corresponding liaison sections of the application form; the application form shall be sealed with the subsidiary’s corporate stamp, an Authorization issued by the parents company shall be
submitted (See Appendix for Sample Authorization); the Authorization shall be sealed by the parent company’s stamp, and the parents company shall take pertinent responsibilities.
IV. PUBLISHED FREIGHT (RANGE) FILING RULES
(i) Filing Codes Rules
1. An NVOCC’s code shall be the abbreviation of its English name and may not exceed eight characters. An NVOCC can select its own code, but the SSE
must accept the NVOCC’s code at the time of the freight filing application.
2. A shipping lane code consists of two digits. There are totally 15 main shipping lanes (See Appendix).
Different liner freight rates may be filed within a
defined shipping lane for shipping lanes that are within close proximity to the Chinese origin ports and may be designated by the day of the week for its effective date by inserting a number from 1 to 7
in the shipping lane column. Monday is No. 1 and so forth.
The freight charges by the NVOCC in its operations shall be consistent with the rate levels and structures which the NVOCC filed. If an NVOCC’s public quotes, freight lists, invoices or freight
management systems do not specify each charge, and even if an “All-in” freight is utilized, the filed freight shall reflect the true structure, and shall be the applicable freight rate.
When filing freight, an NVOCC may differentiate shipping lanes by adding characters after each lane, for example, when the minimum freight does not include the corresponding commission, container
deductions and surcharges (i.e. “ All In” freight) in the published freight (range), “A” shall be added after the shipping lane code; when the maximum freight does not include the corresponding
commission, container deductions and surcharges (i.e. “All In” freight), “B” shall be added after the shipping lane code; when none of the maximum or minimum freight includes the corresponding
commission, container deductions and surcharges (i.e. “ All In” freight) in the published freight (range), “C” shall be added after the shipping lane code.
3.
Both ports of departure and ports of arrival consist of five digits, which shall be filled by referring to the five digits codes provided by the United Nations Codes for Trade and Transport Locations
(Web address: http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/). The Appendix lists some of the five digits codes of the frequently used ports in the
major shipping lanes in the filing system.
The SSE groups ports pursuant to the United Nations Codes for Trade and Transport Locations. These ports are automatically grouped under the aforementioned 15 major shipping lanes. An NVOCC may
also categorize the ports under the 15 major shipping lanes based on its own circumstances.
If a port to be filed is not listed in the Appendix, an NVOCC may by its own refer to the five-digit port codes as provided by the United Nations Codes for Trade and Transport Locations, or contact the
SSE Freight Filing Department to obtain the port codes, and the category to determine which of the 15 major shipping lanes pertain to the filing.
4.
Both Container Types and cargo types consist of two digits or characters. An NVOCC shall categorize cargo in accordance with the types below, and the rules of categorization and notes shall be
filed with the SSE as an Appendix. A cargo category no. shall be listed in an NVOCC’s freight list.
Neither Open top containers nor flat rack containers shall exceed the sizes indicated. (If the container types or cargo types are categorized as “other”, it shall be noted in the “Notes” sections.)
(ii) Filling Rules for Freight Filing Forms
1. An NVOCC shall strictly comply with the filing codes when filling-in a published freight (range) form.
2. “Freight” in the filing system impliedly equals to “maximum of rates”. In the event that the “freight” filed does not equal to the
“maximum of rates”, an NVOCC shall fill “freight” and “maximum of rates” respectively; when “freight” equals to “maximum of rates”, “freight” is not required to be filled-in.
3. The filing system does not accept a filling when “Freight-Freight X Commission-Container Deductions” is equal to or less than “0”,
or when ALL-IN freight is equal or less than the total of surcharges.
4. An NVOCC shall fill-in the “Effective Date” based on its actual circumstance; in the event that the “Effective Date” is not
provided, the filing system automatically deems the effective dates as after 30 days of filing.
5. “Freight”, “BAF”, “CAF” and “Other Surcharges” shall be numbers, and the currency shall be “US Dollars”; “Commission” shall be
percentage (described in decimal format); “OTHC” shall be numbers, and implied currency shall be “RMB”; “DTHC” shall be numbers, and
implied currency shall be the currency at the destination; If other currencies are utilized, it shall be noted in the “Notes” sections. If the
“Surcharge” is not filled-in, it impliedly means that no surcharges will be charged.
6. “Other Surcharges” refers to ocean surcharges which an NVOCC incurs when shipping cargo, such as bunker adjustment factor
(BAF, EBS, IFA, EBA, etc.), currency adjustment factor (CAF, YAS, etc.), shipping line charges (SCS, i.e.Suez Canal Transit Surcharge,
PTF/PCS, i.e. Panama Canal Surcharge), general rate increase (GRI), peak season surcharge (PSS), container imbalance charge (CIC), international shipping protection surcharge (ISPS), etc.
Charges applied to some special situations or some specific container types, such as high cube charge, excess weight charge, or
pertinent charge rules, etc., may be noted in the “Notes”.
7. Terminal handling charge in “OTHC” and “DTHC” means that if they are actually charged, these fees shall be filed in the
corresponding sections of the freighting filing forms.
Other fees related to terminal handling, documentation, etc., such as documentation fee, documents exchange fees booking fee, seal fee,
etc., may not be filed in “Other Surcharges,” but may be filed in “Notes”.
8. Currency exchange rates shall be noted in “Notes” if currency exchange rates are involved in a freight filing.
9. Whether freight charges must be filed for cargo trans-shipped and exported through a base port via barge or domestic lines,
shall be determined by how the NVOCC’s bills of lading is issued. If the bills of lading indicate that the port of loading is a base port, freight from this port of loading shall be filed.
If cargo is shipped from a base port in South China (Such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc.), via barge or domestic lines, and trans-shipped and
exported through the Hong Kong ocean area, and if the bills of lading indicate that the port of loading is the base port in South China, the
freight from this base port (such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc.) as “Port of Loading” shall be filed.
10. The Freight Filing Forms (Electronic version) may not be modified. An NVOCC may only add or delete freight, or change the
contents of the freight. Any surcharges which are not listed in the Freight Filing Forms, and other information which need to be noted may
be recorded in “Notes”. The filing system will reject the filing if the Freight Filing Forms are modified without permission.
11. Freight Filing Forms for published freight (ranges) with different effective dates shall be filed separately.
V. CONTACT INFORMATION
Agency Accepting Freight Filing:
Shanghai Shipping Exchange
RM1009 , 88 YangShuPu RD. Shanghai, (Zip:200082)
Contact Persons: Yang Sutao, Xu Minjie
Tel: 65451137 ; 65795457 ; 65151166-1029 ;
Fax: 65015883 ; 65624305
E-mail: nvo_filing@sse.net.cn
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