Actions in Tort, conditions apply
CEB Section 1.
The present Standard Trading Conditions govern all professional relations between the freight forwarders and their clients, whether merchants and manufacturers or private persons, whatever the juridical quality in which they execute their operation. They also govern the relations between freight forwarders. They are considered as established usages and customs of the Belgian forwarding trade and apply even without any explicit reference to them in agreement.
FIATA Model Rules Section 11.
These Rules apply to all claims against the Freight Forwarder whether the claim be founded in contract or in tort.
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Peter Jones' Commentary:
Under the common law, terms in a contract are generally only effective between parties to the contract. Third parties not in a contractual relationship with a forwarder, i.e. a consignee who is not the forwarder's customer, sometimes make claims against forwarders. These parties, who take the benefit of the forwarder's services, should not be able to disregard the contractual conditions on which the forwarder offers its services when making this claim. See Comments on Application of Conditions.
The STC's used by the Belgium Forwarders Association also governs relations between forwarders themselves.
The older CIFFA Conditions, replaced 2005, formerly included a clause about actions in tort. This clause is not included in the latest version.