General Terms and Conditions

Assignment
By accepting the freight order placed with you, you accept the following terms and conditions. These apply to this and all other freight orders placed with you by RoTra GmbH and RheinFrisch GmbH.
1) Invoicing / Credit note request 
The payment term is 45 days, unless otherwise agreed in writing. The invoice/credit note request will only be posted after receipt of all delivery and pallet exchange receipts. Please send the invoice/credit note request and delivery receipts to Buchhaltung@ro-tra.de. 
The following points must be observed for digital transmission:
•    The invoice/credit note request and delivery receipts must be sent as separate files.
•    Delivery receipts must be scanned in color, with high resolution (at least 300 dpi) and with a professional device. Scanner apps, photos, or black-and-white images are not sufficient and will be rejected.
•    Unless otherwise specified, the shipment reference must be provided as the invoice reference.
2) Status feedback
As a rule, the respective contact person in dispatch must be informed of the completed loading and unloading by email. 
3) Packaging exchange/loading equipment
Part of this transport order is the exchange procedure for loading equipment (DB Euro pallets and DB mesh boxes) at the loading and unloading points. Please note that loading equipment subject to exchange will generally be charged to you, and you can be reimbursed by submitting the receipts for the exchange. The return of loading equipment is also an essential part of the transport order and must be carried out carriage paid. You can return loading equipment free of charge to our branch or, by prior arrangement, to the loading point. If loading equipment debts are settled via PAKI or DPL, a return fee of €1.20 per DB Euro pallet will be charged. Unless otherwise agreed, we will charge you €9.00 for each DB Euro pallet that is not returned and €120.00 net per DB mesh box, plus a processing fee of €25.00. The processing fee cannot be credited after the invoice has been issued.
It is therefore essential that you obtain written confirmation of the packaging exchange from both the sender and the recipient (two exchange processes), even if no exchange takes place, and submit these confirmations to us by the 10th of the following month at the latest. Please also note that credit can only be collected in person. We cannot grant financial compensation.
4) Load securing and transshipment prohibition
Load securing in accordance with the requirements of the goods by you and acceptance of the number of items are deemed to have been agreed. Box bodies must be secured with state-of-the-art locking and closing systems. Transshipments and the transfer of the transport contract to third parties are only permitted with our written consent.
5) Dangerous goods 
In the case of dangerous goods shipments, it is agreed that the vehicle used must be equipped with the prescribed equipment in accordance with the German Dangerous Goods Regulations for Road and Rail (GGVSE) and that the driver must be in possession of a valid ADR certificate. This applies in particular to the availability of complete standard safety equipment for drivers. We will pass on to you any penalties imposed on our customers and recipients as a result of incomplete safety equipment.

6) Damage and accidents 
If the recipient has noted any shortages or damage upon delivery, we must be informed immediately. Any theft, robbery, or traffic accident involving damage to the cargo or injury to a person must be reported immediately to the responsible police station and your insurer. In all cases, we must be informed directly and will provide instructions on how to proceed. 
7) Liability and insurance
Unless otherwise agreed for an individual transport, the provisions of the German Commercial Code (HGB) apply to transport, and the CMR applies to cross-border transport. In addition, it is agreed that the following waiting times at loading and unloading points will not be charged: 3 hours per full load and 2 hours per partial load. You assure us that, in accordance with §7a of the GüKG (German Road Haulage Act), sufficient transport liability insurance is in place and confirmation of this is carried in the vehicle. This insurance must provide supplementary liability cover of up to 40 SDR/kg. If RheinFrisch GmbH / RoTra GmbH is liable to its customer for up to 40 SDR/kg, its liability to us is limited to the amount for which we are liable to our customer. This does not apply to CMR transport or cabotage transport in countries outside the Federal Republic of Germany that have a legally binding liability regime that deviates from this provision. If RheinFrisch GmbH / RoTra GmbH is held legally liable by its client for damage that falls within your area of responsibility, we are entitled to give you notice of the dispute in these proceedings. In the event of a notice of dispute in the cases described, you undertake to join the legal dispute on our side.
8) Obligations of the carrier/driver
•    You undertake to instruct your driving personnel to comply with the information listed in the transport order under “Additional notes & agreements.”
•    The unloading of the freight must always be countersigned by commercial recipients with a stamp and signature. For construction site or private deliveries, the signature and name of the signatory in legible block letters is sufficient.
•    Commissioning third parties to carry out this order or parts thereof is not permitted without our written consent. If you use additional carriers, you must oblige them in the same way to provide their drivers with a copy of the driver instructions and to require them to comply with the instructions contained therein. The driver instructions are also available in languages other than German on request. You must always carry out your transport and handling with technically sound equipment and in compliance with the schedule within the framework of the statutory regulations.
• All applicable legal regulations, rules, and requirements must be observed.
•    Reliable, trustworthy, and professionally trained driving personnel and warehouse personnel with valid specialist permits must be employed (e.g., driver's license, forklift license, load securing training, ADR certificate, etc.). The requirements of the Professional Driver Qualification Act (BkrFQG), which came into force in September 2014, must be implemented and complied with. 
•    All operational employees and driving personnel must be provided with all the knowledge and documentation they need to carry out their work safely and professionally.

•    All transport data and safety information (e.g., CMR, accident data sheets, customer specifications, ADR documents) must be passed on to the partners involved in the transport. ​

• Drivers must familiarize themselves with the content of the written instructions and ADR documentation and carry these with them in the vehicle.
• Compliance with working and driving times, misconduct by drivers, and disciplinary measures taken must be recorded. 
•    All operational and order-related data provided to you must be treated as confidential.
•    Driving personnel must be reachable by mobile phone for the duration of the transport. 
9) Minimum Wage Act 
On January 1, 2015, the Minimum Wage Act (MiLoG) came into force in Germany. This applies to all activities performed in Germany and thus also to all transport services. You undertake to comply with the provisions of the Minimum Wage Act of August 11, 2014, and to provide us with records of wages and hours worked by your employees upon request. The provisions of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and any other applicable data protection regulations remain unaffected. By accepting the loading order, you confirm that you release us from all claims for back pay, claims for additional social security contributions, fines, and corresponding claims for damages by third parties (e.g., our customers who have made claims against us due to your breach of duty) in the internal relationship upon first request. The claim for indemnification arises at the point in time at which third parties make claims against us for violation of the Minimum Wage Act. 
10) Law on Combating Illegal Employment
With regard to the provisions of the Law on Combating Illegal Employment in Commercial Road Haulage (GüKBillBG), the associated control obligations of the client, and the threat of fines for carriers and clients of up to EUR 250,000.00, you hereby bindingly assure us upon acceptance of the freight contract that:
•    You have the permits and authorizations required for transport in accordance with Sections 3 and 6 of the GÜKG (permit, Euro license, third-country permit, CEMT permit).
•    Only to employ driving personnel from third countries if they are in possession of a work permit required in the country where your company is based, and to ensure that the driving personnel have an official certificate (work permit) with an officially certified translation into German in accordance with §7b (1) sentence 2 GÜKG and carry it with them on every journey. 
•    In the event of transport being carried out without your own vehicles and driving personnel, only use carriers who reliably meet the requirements of §7b GÜKG and check that the carriers carrying out the transport comply with this regulation. The above paragraphs apply accordingly to carriers carrying out the transport and their vicarious agents.

11) Security in the supply chain/anti-terrorism
•    The contractor's personnel employed for order processing are reliable employees. It is ensured that these persons are not listed on any of the anti-terrorism lists of the United Nations or the European Union. 
•    During storage, loading, and transport, it is ensured that the goods or loading units provided are protected from unauthorized access.
•    If any interference with the transport chain is detected, it is ensured that the responsible administrator at RheinFrisch GmbH / RoTra GmbH is immediately notified by telephone and in writing. 
12) Additional conditions 
If loading and/or unloading dates cannot be met for any reason, or if other irregularities arise in connection with the order, we must be notified immediately. If the content of the freight contract is not objected to in writing within one hour, the freight contract shall be irrevocably concluded. You undertake not to poach our customers for whom you have been employed by us during the execution of the loading order and for a period of 12 months after its completion and termination. For each case of violation of the aforementioned obligation, you shall pay us a contractual penalty of at least EUR 5,000.00. In addition, in the event of a breach, we shall have the right to revoke any loading orders already issued without notice. We shall be entitled to verify compliance with the above contractual provisions, the statutory provisions applicable to the execution of this order, and the attached driver instructions by means of irregular audits announced with reasonable notice. The person commissioned to carry out the audit shall be granted access to all documents and data necessary for checking the proper execution of the order. Your employees shall be available to provide information within the scope of the audit. 
13) Transport of food, feed, or products from the food/feed industry (HACCP & IFS)
•    No further loads may be taken on board if they are likely to contaminate food (e.g., hazardous goods, but also strong-smelling goods). If you are unsure, please contact our dispatch department. The cargo area and vehicle chassis must be free of residues from previous loads. The loading area must be inspected before loading, and any contamination must be removed. 
•    The cargo area must be clean and odor-free so that any contamination of subsequently loaded foodstuffs can be ruled out.
•    Customer-specific codes of conduct and requirements must be strictly observed and complied with.
•    Damage to goods, including damaged packaging, must be reported immediately to the contact person in the dispatch department.
•    Contamination by dirt and rainwater must be prevented.
•    Loaded vehicles must be kept locked. 
•    The regulation for food transport stipulates that a temperature measuring device must be installed for temperature-controlled transport. This device must be able to store the temperature control data for at least one year and/or print out the record. Temperature deviations during transport must be reported immediately to the responsible administrator.
•    RheinFfrisch GmbH / RoTra GmbH must be informed immediately of any deviations from the planned pick-up and delivery time windows. 

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These General Terms and Conditions are governed by German law. Waldbröl is agreed to be the exclusive place of jurisdiction, provided that this agreement on the place of jurisdiction does not conflict with mandatory law.