一份合同一旦制订并由买方与卖方签字,即对双方具有约束力。两方必须履行合同规定的各自的义务。然而,合同的执行并非一帆风顺的。在国际贸易中,由于各种各样不可预见的原因,买方或卖方完全不履行或只部分履行其义务的情况很常见,结果导致另一方的损失。受损方就有权向违约的一方提出索赔(lodge a claim),要求赔偿损失。
买方经常提出的索赔可以分为两种。一种是真正索赔,另一种是假索赔。引起真正索赔的原因有:
1) 包装不良或包装不正确(poor or improper packing);
2) 运送错误的货物;
3) 对所订购的货物不满意;
4) 交货不足(short-delivery);
5) 所运货物破损;
6) 装运延误;
假索赔是指买方故意挑货物的毛病来,作为其不履行合约的借口。通常的原因是所订的货物价格下划。
在接到买方的抱怨使,卖方必须毫不延误地彻底调查事件,并给予卖方及时的答复,而不管该抱怨是否理由充分。
例 1
26 June, 1998
Dear Sirs
We regret to report that the consignment of the cotton shirts dispatched on 1st June against our Order No. 3268 arrived here yesterday in an unsatisfactory state. Some of the cases were seriously damaged and upon checking the contents we found that case No. 4 contained only 372 pcs of shirts and case No. 7 only 375 instead of the four hundred invoiced for each. Before taking up the matter with the shipping company we should be pleased if you could confirm that each of these cases did in fact contain the invoiced quality when they left your warehouse. At the same time we should request you to replace the fifty-three missing shirts with others of the same quality.
Your will no doubt yourselves be claiming compensation form the party concerned, in which case we shall be glad to assist you with any information we can give you. Meanwhile, we are holding the cases and contents for your inspection.
Yours faithfully
Notes:
pcs pieces
Your will no doubt yourselves be claiming compensation form the party concerned.
无疑你们自己向有关方索赔。
例 2
16 July, 1999
Dear Sirs
We are sorry to learn from your letter dated 27th June that some cases of shirts under Order No. 3268 delivered per s.s ‘Maria’ reached you in a damaged state and fifty-three pieces of shirts contained in cases in cases No. 4 and 7 were found missing. We can confirm at once that when the goods left our warehouse each of the cases contained the full quantity of four hundred shirts. The cases were in good order when they were loaded on board the ship and in support of this we hold the carrier’s clean receipt.
The responsibility for the losses may rest with the shipping company and we suggest you yourselves
make the claim for compensation. We are, of course, quite willing to support your claim by placing our documents at your disposal. We are arranging to replace the fifty-three missing shirt as requested but will have to charge them to your account.
Yours faithfully
Notes:
s.s. short for steamship 轮船
carrier 承运人
clean receipt 清洁收据, 即证明货物交船公司时货物表面状况良好的收据。
rest with : be somebody’s responsibility 是某人的责任
at one’s disposal 供任意使用,可自行支配
更多的例句:
-We regret to inform you that the goods are not in accordance with your samples.
我们非常遗憾的奉告,到货与样品不一样。
-We cannot accept these containers as they are not the size and shape we ordered.
我们无法接受这批集装箱,因其尺寸与形状与我们所订购的不相符。
-We shall be glad to have your explanation of this discrepancy in the quality, and also to know what you propose to do in this matter.
我们希望贵公司对品质不符之处予以解释,并告之贵公司对此事的处理办法。
-With regard to the loss in weight, we are enclosing a surveyor’s report in order to prove to you that the loss could only have occurred in transit.
至于短重一事,我们附上公证人的报告书以证明这种情况只可能在运输途中出现。
-This is maximum concession we can offer. Should you not agree to our proposal, we would like to settle by arbitration.
这是我们能作出的最大的让步。如果贵方不接受我们的建议,我们打算用仲裁来解决。
-We agree to compensate to total loss and enclose one draft for USD 780,000 to pay therefor.
本公司同意赔偿所有损失,兹附上款额780,000 美圆汇票一张,以资偿付。