Study On The Limit Compensation For Uninsured Express

With the popularity of online shopping and the development of express delivery industry,people use express more frequently.More and more damage compensation disputes involving lost or damaged express occured.The limited compensation in the express industry has aroused people’s concern.The limit compensation clause is the damage compensation clause commonly set up by express companies.If the sender does not choose the insurance after the express company has fulfilled the obligation of prompt and clearly stating,the sender can get the limit compensation of several times the postage or a fixed amount at most when the express is lost or damaged.The limitation of compensation clause is a standard clause.Although the law has provisions on the validity of the standard clause and the obligation of the clause provider to prompt and clearly stating,there are still disputes in the theory and practice on the standard of express delivery enterprises to fulfill the obligation and the validity of the limitation of compensation clause,which need to be further clarified.Uninsured express lost,damaged,express enterprises should bear the compensation liability,which is also a controversial issue in the theory.On the basis of clarifying the effect of the limitation of compensation clause,and the standard of express enterprises’ obligation to prompt and clearly stating,we need to further clarify the compensation liability that express companies should bear,and throw out some suggestions.There are various ways for express delivery enterprises to prompt the limitation of compensation clauses,and express delivery enterprises can use paper waybill and electronic waybill to conclude express service contracts.So we should discuss the carrying out standards of prompt obligations according to the difference of express service contracts.Using case analysis method and combining with the Article 10 of the Supreme People’s Court’s Interpretation on the Application of the General Rules of Contract in the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China(Draft for Comment),the standard of the obligation to prompt and clearly stating can be determined.That is,if the contract is concluded by using the paper waybill,the express company shall prompt with eye-catching words and prompt by courier.If the contract is concluded by electronic waybill,the express delivery company shall give instructions based on the prompt in eye-catching words and in special ways such as check boxes and pop-up windows.Whether the limitation of compensation clause is valid or not is controversial in theory.According to the invalidity of the standard clause stipulated in the Civil Code,which "unreasonably reduces the liability of the clause maker and restricts the main rights of the other party",and considering the characteristics of the transportation industry and the fact that the senders can choose the insurance price to obtain full compensation,it is concluded that the rights and responsibilities of the express delivery enterprises and senders are not "too unbalanced",and the limit compensation clause is "reasonably" "reducing the liability of the clause maker" or "restricting the main rights of the other party".In addition,although express delivery enterprises have the obligation of inspection,the scope of inspection is limited to the type and quantity of the goods,excluding the real value of the goods.Express delivery enterprises cannot predict the loss when the express is lost or damaged,and the limited compensation is in line with the damages that express delivery enterprises can foresee.In addition,the limit compensation conforms to the industry practice.and high compensation is not conducive to the development of the industry.From above three perspectives,the limited compensation clause should be valid.For the uninsured express damage compensation problem,in the case of limited compensation clause is not entered into the contract or invalid,there are three compensation methods: limited compensation,full compensation,compensation in proportion to fault.Full compensation would render the insurance clause meaningless,while limited compensation would be unfair to the sender.Compensation in proportion to fault is the most reasonable way of compensation.The most reasonable compensation method is to make full compensation for the loss and damage of common express,and to make special full compensation for valuable express,namely compensation in proportion to the fault.Under the application of the predictable rule,there are some suggestions on the compensation liability of uninsured express,clarifying the standard for the sender to declare the value of valuables and clarifying the value upper limit of single express,both of which can help judges determine the compensation amount and reduce the compensation liability of express enterprises.