Study On Format Terms Of Domestic Express Service Contract

Express as an emerging service trade activity has been extended to all fields of national economy, and on the large stage of market economy, it plays an indispensable role. However, the rise of any new things is bound to bring double effect. To protect their own interests and to avoid legal obligations, express companies has stipulated a series of guild regulations and format terms which cause frequent occurrence of the legal disputes in the Express Industry. Therefore, according to the study on the format and clauses in contracts of express service, this thesis analyzes their validity, hoping to strengthen consumers’ understanding of them and improving the self-protection awareness, so legitimate rights and interests of consumers can be protected, which in turn promotes the benign development of the Express Industry.First of all, the valuation clauses in express service contract are discussed in this thesis. Express companies have learnt a lesson from maritime transport insurance system, and applied it to Express Industry to restrict express companies’ responsibility and reduce their risks. However, demerits still remain in the management of valuation express and valuation fee in express companies. They, for example, do not differentiate the management of valuation express from the no valuation ones for no more security measures is taken; Instead of establishing specialized insurance funds, express companies add the valuation fee directly into ordinary transportation cost, so that valuation fees failed to realize its real effectiveness. Besides, relevant national laws, regulations and industry standards have not yet regulated the valuation rate for express enterprise, causing various standards exist in different express enterprises, which also hinders the virtuous competition from working in this circle. Therefore, the advantages of the valuation system cannot be harnessed and the balance of interests between the express companies and consumers can hardly be achieved if fair and appropriate insurance rate didn’t settle down as soon as possible and express companies themselves failed to perfect the management of valuation express and valuation fees. Secondly, in this thesis, the effectiveness of the compensation standard for no valuation express is also studied. Express companies generally compensate2to10times of the basic freight for goods damage and loss and among them, the highest one could up to as high as20times. This compensation standard, originating from pertinent regulation referring to express companies in People’s Republic of China, is not only a misreading of the Postal Law of the PRC, but also a violation of regulations on the voluntary principle and fair principle from the Contract Law of PRC and Law of PRC on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Consumers. Besides, the new Postal Law of the PRC has specific provision expressing the compensation for no valuation express should be carried out in accordance with the civil laws. Therefore, the compensation standard for no valuation express is no longer directly applicable in the Postal Law of the PRC referring postal companies of compensation standard.At last, this paper also analyzes the express companies’ acceptance system."signature before inspection" or "inspection before signature" has long been the concerns of both Courier companies and consumers. With The New Standard Express Service came into effect, the regulated "signature before inspection" or "inspection before signature" have been replaced by the classification of express, and the acceptance of them according to the different standards. In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers in a better way, consumers should strengthen the self--protection awareness in online shopping activities at ordinary times as well as in the process of receipt. And for the express companies, they should implement the new standard regulations and the sorting regulations and constantly improve their managerial level. The system of inspection and acceptance can be better implemented only when the safety of express mail can be ensured at the beginning.Express delivery industry is an emerging and potential industry. For a long time, express industry has boasted a relatively low threshold which gave rise to the chaos in its development. Therefore, the speedy and healthy development of express industry requires not only a sound legal laws and regulations serving as foundation, but also an integrated method involving the improvement of express companies’ supervision, self-discipline awareness and managerial level. Only in this way can Chinese express industry become increasingly standard, and obtain a competitive advantage when they compete with international competitors of this field, finally achieving the goal of win-win success with customers.