Legal Research On Third Party Logistics Contract

Logistics is the foundation of the national economy. With the rapid changes of technology and fierce competition of economy,the modern logistics industry is booming worldwide. Since China's Eleventh Five-Year Planning listed modern logistics as a key development industry,and pointed out the necessary to develop the Third Party Logistics,the TPL industry has become one of the important study objects both in theory and practice. TPL can't develop without the support of legal norms. However,TPL development in China is still at the initial stage,the legal environment for TPL also need to be further improved. At present,china still does not have a specialized logistics regulations,we can't find famous contract that corresponds to TPL contract in sub-contract of"Contract Law". The unsound environment of the logistics legal has brought a series of problems and contradictions in practice. In the legal form,the TPL services mainly performs as certain types of TPL contract,and the contract is the basis of these legal issues. Therefore,the study on TPL contract has practical significance,discussions on the legal issues such as the legal relationship,risk and insurance,liability system,contract management will provide certain references for practice and theory study.This article discusses from four parts. Firstly,the article discusses an overview of TPL contract including the concept of TPL,legal characteristics and nature of TPL contract. Through the analysis,the article pointes out that TPL contract is an agreement that provides integrated logistics services,the natures of the contract are bilateral,valuable,consensual,formal,and the TPL provider involved in two or more contracts relationship. The legal nature of TPL contract is a mixed contract,the contract belongs to integrated logistics services contract. Secondly,the article carries out an analysis on the legal relationship of TPL contract,and pointes out that the main bodies of TPL contract are TPL provider and TPL demander,the object of the contract is the TPL provider's behavior to provide integrated logistics services,and introduces the rights and obligations between the parties. Thirdly,the article discusses on the legal risk,insurance and responsibility system of the TPL contract,analyzes the TPL provider's liability principle,responsibility period and the liability limitation,pointes out that the tend of the liability principle for TPL provider is"revised uniform liability system". Finally,the articles points out our obstacles in the TPL contract practice,such as the legal system of the TPL is not uniform,the legal status of TPL provider is unclear,liability insurance for TPL can't meet the practical requirement,the risk managements of the parties are not strong enough,and the article put forward countermeasures and suggestions at the end of the article.