Terms and Conditions | Europe Express

Europe Express: is the company with the registration code 16221826 incorporated in Estonia as Euroopa Ekspress OÜ, of Harju maakond, Tallinn, Kesklinna linnaosa, Järvevana tee 9–40, 11314, who trades as a road freight agent and performs Services on behalf of the Client and who uses these Conditions. Europe Express is also referred to as ‘We’ and ‘Us’ and ‘Our’ in these Conditions.

Client: every VAT registered legal person in the EU, Switzerland, Norway and UK who provides Europe Express with an order to perform Services and concludes to that effect the Agreement, in these Conditions also referred to as ‘You’ and ‘Your’ and ‘Yours’.

Agreement: the agreement entered into by Europe Express and the Client in respect of the Services to be performed by Europe Express, of which these Conditions form part.

Force majeure: all circumstances that Europe Express has reasonably been unable to avoid and in respect of which Europe Express has reasonably been unable to prevent the consequences.

Conditions: these Euroopa Ekspress OÜ Business Terms and Conditions.

Good/Goods: the goods to be made available or made available to Europe Express, its agent or Third Parties by or on behalf of the Client, for the purpose of executing the Agreement.

Website: all main and subpages available at: https://europe.express.

ADR – Agreement of 30 September 1957 concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road.

FTL – Full Truck Load freight is contracted to one carrier and rides alone.

LTL – Less Than Load freight is the transportation of products or goods that do not require FTL.

GIT: Goods in Transit Insurance.

Article 2 – Scope

These Conditions govern all offers, agreements, legal acts and actual acts relating to Services to be performed by Europe Express. These Conditions apply to the legal relationship between the parties, including once the Agreement has ended.

As soon as an order has been issued, it is automatically agreed that You accept both our offer and the below specified conditions.

In case of discrepancies between the General Conditions of the Estonian logistics and freight forwarding association 2015 and these Conditions, the Euroopa Ekspress OÜ Conditions will prevail.

Insofar as any provision in these Conditions is void or otherwise unenforceable, this does not affect the validity of the other provisions in these Conditions. Furthermore, considered to be applicable is such a stipulation (legally permissible) that is the closest to the purport of the void or voided stipulation.

In case the English translation differs from the non-English language text, the former will prevail.

Article 3 – Third Parties

You give Europe Express free rein to engage the services of Third Parties to execute the Agreement, and accept the general terms and conditions of those Third Parties at Your expense and risk, unless agreed otherwise with You. At Your request, Europe Express is obliged to provide a copy of the general terms and conditions under which it has entered into a contract with those Third Parties.

Article 4 – Website as a free service

The website of Europe Express is available to You everywhere in the world.

To use the Website contents as a reference source of information you must cite Europe Express as the author.

If You remain an unregistered user, You can only use the website as a tool for measuring the cost and timing of freight and customs clearance. You can’t place orders.

Article 5 – Registering for access to services.

You can place orders only as a registered user.

Upon successful completion of the online registration, You will be granted access to the Customer Portal where You can place orders for European freight and customs clearance.

The new user application can take up to 3 working days to be processed by Europe Express.

We reserve the right to reject any user application from entities with a credit score level below our acceptable threshold or from entities of which credibility cannot be effectively verified by us.

All offers made by Europe Express are non-binding. Agreements, as well as amendments of and additions to these agreements, shall only become effective if Europe Express has confirmed these in an email or by displaying relevant information at the Customer Portal.

Article 6 – Placing the order for freight forwarding.

The service price is calculated automatically according to demand at a given time and the availability of suitable vehicles near the location of loading.

Service availability for specific times and locations is updated automatically and You can select the required time of collection from the list of the available collection times presented to You at the time of placing an order.

Your click on ‘Confirm Order’ button at Customer Portal shall imply an order.

You can track and trace Your consignments free of charge via the Customer Portal.

Article 7 – Placing the order for customs clearance.

You can place an order for customs clearance to compliment the freight forwarding order You placed with us.

You can also place a standalone order for customs clearance.

Your click on the ‘Confirm Order’ button on the Customer Portal shall imply an order.

Your order is accepted by Europe Express by means of an email titled: ‘You have successfully placed Your order’ sent to the mailbox you registered with us.

Customs clearance orders requested between Monday and Thursday are completed within 24 hours. Orders requested on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and during French public holidays are completed on the next French working day.

If we become familiar with information which would indicate that You have provided incorrect or incomplete information or documents, Europe Express is entitled to end this order and not carry it out any further without any obligation to pay damages.

Article 8 – Conditions specific to freight forwarding.

Europe Express operates 24 hours a day. During the festive season between 17th December and 5th January, we stop operating.

You can indicate a preferred collection and delivery time at any time outside of the festive season break.

Where the value of the consignment is €82,650 or higher, its value must be reported to Europe Express prior to the collection.

All vehicles used by us are vans with a maximum permitted load of 3500kg (the weight of the vehicle and cargo).

Incoterms

The type of cargo is one of many factors that determines the service price. You must select the correct cargo type (particularly for ADR goods) at the time of requesting quotations.

The maximum weight of goods per vehicle we can accept is 1200kg.

Maximum permitted volume of goods must not exceed 20 cubic metres and goods must fit within a space of 4.9 metres long, 2.25 metres wide and 2.3 metres high.

There are no tail lifts on our vehicles.

Shipments of 1000kg or 18 cubic metres or more travel exclusively on one vehicle from the collection point directly to the destination (FTL).

Shipments of less than 1000kg or 18 cubic metres hereafter also referred to as ‘groupage’ travel together with orders from other customers on the same vehicle (LTL).

You are responsible for supplying the correct dimensions (length, width, height) and weight of the subject of the order.

Permitted loading and unloading times (per loading or unloading address):

LTL Groupage maximum 1 hour.
FTL maximum 2 hours.
Removals (personal effects) maximum 6 hours.

Waiting time will be charged if we are unable to load or unload the goods during the day from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays from 8:00AM to 6:00PM at the rate of €50 per hour.

The time of service completion depends on the distance travelled and complexity of the customs clearance process. The estimated time of order completion will be presented to You in the quotation, both by email and in the list of quotations in the Customer Portal.

It’s not possible to set a specific day of delivery later than the automatically set day of delivery in the Customer Portal.

Storage services are not available.

The time of completion of freight forwarding orders for shipments between Switzerland, Norway, the UK and the EU also depends on the customs clearance schedule described in article 7 of these conditions.

All of our freight services are paperless. In the event documents are required for a particular shipment, You must firmly attach these documents to the shipment in a clear document holder in a visible place.

Shipments should have the visible and clearly readable name and address of the consignee.

Proofs of Delivery (POD’s) are supplied automatically via the Customer Portal and may be claimed no later than 60 business days after shipping completion.

In case a POD cannot be delivered You can’t suspend the payment of Europe Express invoices.

The following goods are not handled by Europe Express: live animals, plants, unpackaged furniture, coins, gemstones, jewellery, banknotes, precious metals, securities, weapons, munitions, and goods prohibited by law.

Arrival times are not strict deadlines and are not guaranteed by Europe Express, unless agreed otherwise in writing.

The method of delivery and route shall be at Europe Express’s discretion.

You are obliged to make the Goods available to us or a Third Party in suitable packaging and at the agreed location, at the agreed time, and in the manner agreed.

In respect of the Goods, as well as in respect of the handling thereof, You are required to supply Europe Express in good time with any details and documents that you know or ought to know, are of importance to Europe Express. If the Goods are subject to governmental provisions, including customs and excise regulations and tax rules, You must provide all information and documents, in good time, that are required by Europe Express in order to comply with those provisions.

You must ensure that the information and documents provided by you are correct and complete and that all instructions and Goods that are made available comply with current legislation. Europe Express shall not be obliged but shall be entitled to investigate whether the information provided is correct and complete.

The logic of rates calculation:

Goods with a length of 350 cm or longer and gross weight greater than 100 kg are treated as FTL and require booking of 1000kg or 18 cubic metres or more.

1 euro pallet of 80 cm deep x 120 cm wide and over 120cm high is considered as not stackable.

1 industrial pallet 100 cm deep x 120 cm wide and over 120 cm high is considered as not stackable.

Gross weight (kg) = actual weight

1 cubic metre (m3) = 60kg

Article 9 – The preparation of goods handling

Goods or pallets loaded with goods with a maximum height of 120 cm are considered as being stackable, unless the goods or pallet is labeled with an A4 size label with the words ‘Not stackable’ written in black across the surface of the label.

The goods must be packed adequately for transportation. Should the goods be unpacked or packed inadequately, Europe Express reserves the right to refuse to transport the goods or refuse any liability for their damage.

The maximum weight per package must not exceed 25 kg if it is for manual loading or unloading.

For transportation of packages with a gross weight greater than 25kg, a pump track, or heavy duty trolley and loading ramps are mandatory at the loading and the unloading locations.

For safety reasons, ADR goods will be treated as not stackable.

Rounding off paying weights.

Orders of less than 300 kg to the nearest 15 kg.
Orders of more than 300 kg but less than 600 kg to the nearest 30 kg.
Orders of more than 600 kg but less than 1200 kg to the nearest 60 kg.

Article 10 – Fees and Payments

Freight quotations include: Estonian 20% VAT or 0% reverse charge VAT, fuel for the entire journey, all applicable road tolls, ferry charges, and driver’s labour while driving.

Rates quoted are valid for one loading and one unloading address unless otherwise agreed by us by email.

Rates are based on the size of the order, the distance travelled, vehicle availability and demand for the service.

Europe Express freight quotations are exclusive of return or recycling of empty packaging or pallets.

Driver’s help with loading and unloading service is an optional extra charged separately on a per hour basis.

The standard payment term for entities with high credit score is 30 days from the invoice date at a maximum credit limit of €3000 unless otherwise agreed via the Customer Portal.

Europe Express reserves the right to demand an advance payment for every order for those with a less favourable credit score.

You can start downloading PDF Invoices for all completed orders from the Customer Portal 24 hours after service completion. Your Europe Express invoices will remain available for You to view and download on the Customer Portal for at least 90 days.

Any possible claims against Europe Express and its carriers will not suspend the payment of invoices to Europe Express. You are not authorized to offset any claims against Your Europe Express payment obligations.

The European Union interest rate for late payment is due from the day following the expiry date of the payment term.

You will not be able to place new orders while there is an outstanding unpaid balance on Your account.

Adjustments to rates due to government decisions (Brexit) and caused outside our sphere of influence will be charged.

All quoted rates are charged in EURO (€).

Europe Express charges fixed rates and these rates shall be deemed to include all costs that, in the normal process of handling the order, are managed by Europe Express.

Unless provided otherwise, fixed rates shall not include at any rate: duties, taxes and levies, consular and attestation fees, costs of preparing bank guarantees, or insurance premiums.

In the event of circumstances that are of such a nature that when concluding the Agreement it was not deemed necessary to take into account the risk of significant increase in costs of the Services being performed, Europe Express is entitled to an additional payment.

You as the Client shall indemnify Europe Express for any amounts to be levied or additionally demanded by any authorities in connection with the Agreement, as well as any related fines imposed upon Europe Express. You must reimburse said amounts to Europe Express no later than 30 days after such payments are incurred.

Article 11 – Cancellations

You can cancel your order with us at any time on the Customer Portal. Refunds are processed according to the following schedule.

Orders cancelled more than 7 days before the collection – the amount of the refund will be equal to 100% of the quoted amount.

Orders cancelled between 7 and 3 days before the collection date – the amount of the refund will be equal to 80% of the quoted amount.

Orders cancelled 72 hours or less before collection or if you don’t notify us about the cancellation and won’t hand over the goods to us on the day of collection – we will charge 100% of the quoted service price.

If you use your Europe Express credits to place an order, we are going to charge credits for cancellations.

Cancelled orders are invoiced according to the cancellation fees schedule.

Article 12 – Insurance

All road freight services offered by Europe Express are covered by the Goods in Transit (GIT) policy held by the vehicle keeper.
GIT covers the goods subject to transportation order against loss or damage while in transit.
The cover includes transit in the UK, EU, Switzerland and Norway.
The GIT insurance covers the risks listed below up to €82,650.

Theft while in transit.
Loss while in transit.
Damage caused by road accidents.
Damage caused during transit.

GIT does not provide protection against damages through inappropriate packaging.

The risk posed by the use of equipment such as forklifts, pump trucks, derricks, cranes and other machines to perform the Services that do not form part of the vehicle are not insured under GIT.

Insurance with the scope reaching beyond the cover of GIT shall be arranged by You at Your expense.

Article 13 – Our Liability

Complaints and Insurance Claims must be reported to us by email to freight@europe.express within 7 days after the service completion date.

Claims should be submitted in writing and accompanied by the order number, damage reports and other required documents for settling claims.

Europe Express is not liable for loss, damage or delay due to situations out of our control, among which (but not limited to), weather conditions, pandemics, social unrest, fire, war, or industrial actions.

We are never liable for any consequential losses, loss of profits, or immaterial damages.

Without prejudice to the provisions in Article 12, Europe Express shall not be liable for any damage whatsoever unless You can prove that the damage has been caused by fault or negligence on the part of Europe Express employees.

Europe Express’s liability shall in all cases be limited to €82,650 per occurrence or series of occurrences with one and the same cause of damage.

The loss to be indemnified by Europe Express shall never exceed the invoice value of the Goods, to be proved by You, in default whereof the market value, to be proved by You, at the time when the damage occurred, shall apply.

If during the execution of the Agreement damage occurs for which Europe Express is not liable, taking into account the provisions in Article 3 of these Conditions, Europe Express shall make efforts to recover Your damage from the party that is liable for the damage. Europe Express shall be entitled to charge to the Client the costs incidental thereto.

The Client shall be liable vis-a-vis Europe Express for any damage, including but not limited to material and immaterial damage, consequential damage, fines, interest, as well as penalties and confiscation, including damage on account of non-clearance or tardy clearance of customs documents and claims due to product liability or intellectual property rights suffered directly or indirectly by Europe Express as a result of Your non-compliance with any obligation pursuant to the Agreement or pursuant to applicable national or international legislation, as a result of any incident that is within Your control, as well as a result of Your fault or negligence in general or employees or Third Parties that work on Your behalf.

Article 14 – Force majeure

In the event of Force Majeure (unforeseeable circumstances that prevent Europe Express from fulfilling this contract), the Agreement shall remain in force; Europe Express’s obligations shall, however, be suspended for the duration of the Force Majeure.

All additional costs caused by Force Majeure, such as transport and storage charges, warehouse or yard rental, demurrage and standing fees, insurance, removal, etc., shall be borne by the Client and shall be paid to Europe Express at the latter’s first request.

Article 15 – Refusal of carriers

If the carriers refuse to sign for quantity, weight, etc. Europe Express shall not be liable for the consequences thereof.

Article 16 – Sureties

Europe Express has the right to refuse the delivery of Goods that Europe Express has or will obtain, for whatever reason and with whatever destination, in respect of another party.

Europe Express has a right of lien in respect of all Goods, documents and monies that Europe Express holds or will hold for whatever reason and with whatever destination, for all claims Europe Express has or might have in future on the Client and/or the owner of the Goods.

Europe Express shall regard anyone who, on Your behalf, entrusts Goods to Europe Express for performing Services, as Your agent for creating a lien on those Goods.

If when settling the invoice a dispute arises over the amount due or if there is need for a calculation to be made for the determination of what is due that cannot be made quickly, then at the discretion of Europe Express, You or the party that demands delivery at the request of Europe Express is obliged to pay forthwith the part which the parties agree is due and to furnish security for the part in dispute or for the part for which the amount has not yet been established.

Europe Express can also exercise the rights outlined in this article (right of lien, right of retention and right to refuse delivery) for what is still owed to it by You in relation to previous orders and for any amount payable.

At Europe Express’s first request, You should furnish security for costs paid or to be paid by Europe Express to Third Parties or government authorities and other costs that Europe Express incurs or anticipates incurring, on Your behalf, including freight, port costs, duties, taxes, levies and premiums.

In the absence of documents, Europe Express is not obliged to give indemnities or furnish securities. If Europe Express has given indemnification or furnished security, You are obliged to indemnify Europe Express from all consequences thereof.

Article 17 – Termination of the Agreement

You or Europe Express can terminate the Agreement with seven days of written notice to either party.

Article 18 – Choice of law

All Agreements to which these Conditions apply are governed by the legislation of the Republic of Estonia and international agreements ratified by the Republic of Estonia. The place of payment and settlement of claims shall be Europe Express’s place of business.

Article 19 – Arbitration

All disputes which may arise between Europe Express and You shall be decided by arbitrators to the exclusion of the ordinary courts of law, in accordance with the General Conditions of ELFA for Carriage of Goods by Road of the Estonian Logistics & Freight Forwarding Association (ELEA).