1.1 Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (hereinafter referred to as the Register, RS) renders all services on the basis of Agreements or requests submitted in written form. The Agreement or request may be concluded with the Customer of the Register services both by means of drawing up a single document (by using the forms provided by the Register or in arbitrary form) signed by the authorized representatives of the Parties as well as by means of exchange of documents including a request in written form provided by RS or in arbitrary form. It is allowed to exchange documents by mail, telegraph, teletype, electronic or other communication facilities permitting to establish that the document originates from the Party to the Agreement.
1.2 The volume of data contained in the Agreement or request as well as the procedure for their receiving and reviewing shall be settled by RS normative documents. A reference in the text of an Agreement (request) that the Customer is familiar with and agrees with General Conditions is an essential condition while signing an Agreement (request) for rendering services
1.3 Rules, instructions, procedures, circulars, information materials and other documents pertinent to the rendering of services issued by RS or other bodies issuing authorizations or accreditation to RS (hereinafter referred to as RS requirements) are always constituent and integral part of Agreements (requests) for rendering services. Customers shall be acquainted by RS (on their demand) with the List of Documents concerning the services rendered.
1.4 Upon completion of the rendering services, the authorized representatives of RS and the Customer shall sign the Certificate on acceptance-delivery. The Acceptance-Delivery Certificate indicates the basis (Agreement, request), time, place of rendering services, whether the rendered services fully comply with the Agreement (request) provisions, whether there are the claims of the parties to each other, whether payment conditions for services are settled and other facts in accordance with the practice accepted by RS or the Customer. When the Certificate received from RS is failed to be signed by the Customer within three working days and the claim on the service rendered by RS not documented, the service shall be considered accepted by the Customer. The procedure for dealing with claims shall be settled in accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation and normative documents of RS.
1.5 Acceptance with the present General conditions for rendering services by RS means that the Customer of RS service:
1) has no objections against the access of inspectors of EC, Maritime Flag Administration, auditors of an accredited certification body on board the ship under survey;
2) agrees to initiative surveys carried out by RS in cases stipulated by the RS Rules and Guidelines;
3) accepts that the information contained in the documents issued by the Register highlights the situation only at the time of the relevant survey. Maintenance of compliance of the item of supervision with the RS Rules and international conventions in between the surveys by RS is the responsibility of the customer;
4) confirms that its activities and activities of its affiliates do not violate sanctions and prohibitions of any states, UN, other international organizations, including Regulation 267/2012 of the European Union;
5) recognizes the confidential information collected from RS as relating to the contractual relationship and correspondence between the Customer for RS services and RS and not intended for general use;
6) shall neither disclose confidential information obtained from RS, nor transfer it to third parties for any purpose, intentionally or not, directly or indirectly, without the RS prior written consent, nor perform any act aimed at illegal collection, storage and use throughout the validity period of the agreement and 5 years after execution of the contractual obligations;
7) undertakes to ensure security and confidentiality of the data relating to confidential information, as well as the agreement subject, terms and performance, including information on the RS services cost.
1.6 An Agreement (request) may be terminated at any time upon the initiative both of the Customer and the Register, and the notification on termination shall be sent to the other Party in written form at least 30 calendar days prior to termination. When the Agreement (request) is cancelled at RS initiative, except the cases given in 3.10, the earlier issued documents shall be valid within the date specified in them, provided the compliance with RS requirements.[1]
1.7 Except for stated in 1.6, any Party (the Customer or the Register) may terminate an Agreement (request) by sending a written notification to the other Party in case the other Party initiates a bankruptcy process, is exposed to winding-up, when an external manager is appointed or the similar process is taking place under the legislation of the place of location or jurisdiction of the Party.
1.8 Organizations, recognized by RS and having valid Certificates of the Register, are entitled to use the RS Logo and Mark of Compliance. The Regulations for Use of RS Logo and Conformance Mark are given in the Appendix to the present General Conditions.
1.9 Within the context of the present General Conditions, the term “Register” includes Federal State Autonomous Institution “Russian Maritime Register of Shipping” registered in compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, as well as all its Branch Offices in Russia and abroad, incorporated in RS structure; Branch Offices, affiliates, subsidiaries and their locations.
2.1 While preparing for surveys, the Customer is obliged to establish to RS surveyors the conditions required for safe survey conducting in compliance with the safety specifications, submit required documents, render assistance to the surveyors according to RS normative documents.
2.2 When the Customer fails to arrange the required conditions of safe practice or while detecting the defects affecting the safety during the survey, RS surveyor is obliged to refuse to perform such survey.
2.3 When the Customer of the services fails to grant access to the item of survey within 2 (two) months from the date of registration of the Agreement (request), upon expiry of this period such Agreement (request) shall be considered terminated, if not otherwise stated by the Agreement (request).
2.4 For effective/prompt survey performing the period of rendering services by RS shall be agreed by the Parties in each particular case. In any case, the requests for survey shall be submitted at least 24 hours in advance, when the item of survey is situated within the activity of RS location, and when the item of survey is situated far from such location, this request shall be submitted in advance within the period sufficient for arrival of RS representative/surveyor at the place of the item of survey. RS shall strive for rendering the service in the most efficient way for the Customer, sending for surveying the surveyor from the location in the vicinity of the item of survey. Therewith, the Register reserves the right to send the surveyors of the RS Head Office or any other location to perform any survey.
2.5 The survey results are recorded in the appropriate reports, records and checklists. No RS document (certificate, evidence, etc.) may be issued for the item without relevant survey. In case of positive results of the survey which are registered in the relevant report, the documents shall be issued and sent to the Customer within 3 (three) workdays.[2]
2.6 Information contained in the documents issued by the Register highlights the situation only at the time of the relevant survey, and the maintenance of compliance of the item of supervision with the RS Rules and international conventions in between the surveys by RS is the responsibility of the customer.
3.1 The cost of service is determined in accordance with duly approved documents on pricing rules for RS services or in accordance with Agreements (requests) concluded.
When sufficient information is available, the following shall be notified in advance to the Customer on his request:
1) Minimum estimating cost of the service specified.
2) The procedure of RS location work and the cost of services to be rendered in the particular place (places) of survey under the Customer request in non-working hours.
3) Procedure for recording and the cost of an hour of time spent by RS experts en route.
4) List of supplemented expenses, which RS may incur while carrying out requested services and of which the Customer shall pay in compliance with paragraph 3.8 of these General Conditions
When calculating the cost of services in percentage from the cost of the surveyed item or process, the Customer shall be liable for providing to RS proper information about the cost of items or processes of supervision.
The currency expressing the fee is an accounting currency. RS Branch Offices may draw an invoice to the Customer in any currency in compliance with the current legislation and indicating, where necessary, the procedure of conversion the accounting currency into the currency of payment. When rendering services to the Customers-RF residents, the RS Branch Offices (except for the Affiliated Companies) draw an invoice in RF rubles and a services acceptance-delivery report is issued in RF rubles.
3.2 When confirming payment for RS service, the Customer shall be informed that the pricing rules/time rates have been developed based on the following conditions:
1) single surveying of fully prepared items of proper quality, or parts thereof, manufactured or operated under the technical documentation approved by RS;
2) no delay in submitting an item for surveying due to its being unprepared, ready access to all parts of the item, full compliance with occupational safety requirements on item;
3) no unjustified requests, recurring or additional surveys and trials, consideration of technical documentation or additional time consumed in connection with the service rendered.
Non-fulfilment of the conditions mentioned above can result in the time actually consumed (AT) exceeding the time rates established in normative hours, and to a relevant increase in the cost of the service.
3.3 When rendering services by Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, provisions of Art. 317.1 of the RF Civil Code as regards the right to receive from the debtor's legal interest does are not applicable, this interest is not allocated.
3.4 RS invoices shall be paid by the Customer within the terms indicated in the Agreement between the Parties or in the request for RS services and specified in the invoice, and when such indication is not available and in cases mentioned in 3.5, not later than 30 (thirty) calendar days from the date of drawing up an invoice by RS. RS is entitled to charge from the Customer penalty in case of payment delay against invoices. A penalty shall be charged at a rate of 0.05% of the overdue payment for each day of delay from the first day of delay until the payment is received in full at the settlement account of the Register.
The RS account shall be deemed to have been paid since the amount entry specified in the invoice to the RS bank account.
3.5 Payments for the services shall be made by the Customers at pre-payment conditions when:
1) the Customer orders RS services for the first time;
2) the procedure of the Customer’s bankruptcy is initiated or the external manager is appointed;
3) the Customer’s property or a part thereof is under arrest;
4) the Customer had an overdue repayment of debts against RS in the period of previous 12 months, including accrued expenses as regards the penalty;
5) under special circumstances, the Customer was granted an extension of a term for completion of special survey in compliance with the “Guidelines on Technical Supervision of Ships in Service”;
6) the services are rendered on the expertise of ships and technical documentation when assigning RS class for ships;
7) the services are rendered during reassignment or reinstatement of RS class;
8) the services for initial survey of ships are rendered when assigning RS class;
9) the services are rendered on survey of ships introduced into Special Surveillance Regime/Program.
3.6.1 In cases mentioned in subparagraphs 1-4, 6-7, 9 of 3.5, prepayment shall be made in the amount of 100% of the estimated cost of the services specified.
3.6.2 In cases mentioned in subparagraph 5 of 3.5, prepayment shall be made in the amount of 50% of the estimated cost of the services specified.
3.6.3 In cases mentioned in subparagraph 8 of 3.5, prepayment shall be made in the amount of 75% of the estimated cost of the services specified.
3.7 According to fact of actual rendering services, in case of actual cost overrun related to the estimated cost, an invoice for the said overrun shall be paid by the Customer within 30 (thirty) calendar days from the date of drawing up the invoice by RS.
3.8.1 The following additional charges intended to reimburse expenses incurred by RS in connection with the rendering of the services are also included in the cost of service:
1) daily allowance paid to the RS experts according to the legislation;
2) transport expenses connected with the rendering of the service;
3) actual expenses for accommodation incurred during the period of rendering of the service;
4) communications expenses and other actual expenses as were necessary, which shall be proved by documents;
5) value added tax or other payments (where they are applicable under the legislation of RF, of the country where RS offices rendering the service are located, or the country where the service is rendered).
3.8.2 The following additional charges are also included in the cost of service:
1) related to the rendering of service during non-working hours, on weekends and holidays;
2) related to the duration of the surveyor’s travel time during non-working hours, on weekends and holidays.
Moreover, the scheduled time of the service performance shall include the calculated travel time of the surveyors in connection with the services performance.
3.9 The basic and additional payment shall also be fully charged in cases when the results the Customer is interested to achieve are found unfeasible due to non-compliance of an item with the specified requirements, irrespective of the time when such unfeasibility is detected.
3.10 In case of non-performance or improper performance of obligations to RS (including the obligation to pay for its services and/or penalty under the present Agreement or under any other Agreement), RS has the right to refuse to render any service requested by the Customer, or to suspend rendering of service, or not to issue documents on the basis of the results of the services rendered, or not to assign class, or if class has been assigned, to suspend class or withdraw class of a sea-going ship in respect of which an obligation before RS has not been performed or has been performed improperly, or to withdraw documents issued by RS (making an entry of their invalidity). RS may exercise its rights set forth in this paragraph without prior notice to the Customer thereof.
3.11 When paying the RS invoices, the commission fee to the foreign (or Russian) sending bank and correspondent banks is to be paid by RS.
3.12 In case of disputes between RS Branch Office and the Customer on the matters related to calculation of the cost of the services rendered by RS, the final decision shall be made by RS Head Office within 10 (ten) calendar days after submitting all necessary documents on the disputable problem, if not otherwise stated by the Agreement between the Parties.
4.1 RS shall entrust the rendering of services to appropriate, adequately qualified experts who perform their duties with proper diligence.
4.2 The Register is responsible for failure to perform or for improper performance of its commitments only when found guilty (by intent or carelessness).
4.3 The Register shall indemnify the Parties having contractual relationship with the Register as regards services to be rendered, which have sustained losses either due to violation by the Register of its contractual liabilities or due to negligent execution of services to the amount not exceeding that of specified by the agreement in accordance with Scales of Fees/tariffs and/or paid against account(s), and/or submitted for payment, only provided that the causative evidence of the above breaching by the Register of its contractual obligations and incurred losses shall be proved.
4.4 RS reserves the right to refuse (including not to conclude new agreements) to render services in following cases:
– at certain territory when it is recommended by the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation or other government bodies to refrain visiting that territory;
– when sanctions and prohibitions of any states, UN, other international organizations, including Regulation 267/2012 of the European Union are imposed against the Customer and the Customer’s ships.
4.5 Upon incurrence of circumstances which make it partially or completely impossible to perform an Agreement (request) by one of the Parties, namely: declared or actual war, civil disorders, epidemic, blockade, embargo, earthquake, flood, fire, acts of war of any nature, and any acts of God, the terms of performing the obligations under the Agreement shall be extended till the moment when the above circumstances permit to fulfill the conditions thereof, or the Agreement may be terminated.
The Certificate issued by the relevant Chamber of Commerce or any other competent body, is a sufficient evidence of the availability and duration of force-majeure circumstances.
When the force-majeure circumstances have effect for more than three months, any Party has a right to refuse of further performance of the obligations under the Agreement, therewith neither Party shall expect the other Party to reimburse the possible losses, except for the services properly rendered by RS.
The Party which is not able to fulfill its obligations under the Agreement due to circumstances stated in the present paragraph, shall immediately notice the other Party of originating or terminating the relevant circumstances. The notification shall be sent by letter, fax or any other way to the address given in the Agreement.
4.6 RS shall not be liable for any loss of the Customer arising in connection with RS exercising its rights as specified by the present General Conditions.
4.7 The Register undertakes to accept for consideration any Customer’s applications, including of a claim nature, regarding the Register activities. These applications may be submitted by the Customer using a special section on the RS website (https://lk.rs-class.org/regbook/regbookVessel?ln=en) or in any other form.
5.1 Unless otherwise specifically agreed in writing by the parties, any disagreement or dispute arising out of or in connection with an Agreement between RS and a Customer whose commercial enterprise is located outside Russian Federation, shall be settled by the Commercial Court of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Region in accordance with the Rules for procedure of the said court.
5.2 Unless otherwise specifically agreed in writing by the parties, all disputes and disagreements arising out of the Agreement, and all the matters which are not regulated by the Agreement, shall be governed by the Russian Federation substantive law, with the exception of those provisions of the Russian Federation legislation which determine the application of law in the absence of an Agreement between the parties.
6.1 The present General Conditions are a constituent and integral part of all Agreements and requests from Customers for RS services, unless otherwise specifically indicated in the Agreement (request).
6.2 If any part of these General Conditions is found void, it will not affect the validity of the balance of the General Conditions.
6.3 Shall any dispute arise with regard to interpretation of the present General Conditions, the text of the General Conditions in Russian shall prevail.
Appendix: Regulations for Use of RS Logo and Conformance Mark.[1] Validity of 1.6 does not cover RS rights in respect of classification and survey of ships registered in the State Ship’s Registry or Bareboat Charter Registry in compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
[2] Long-term Certificates issued on the basis of the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and Pollution Prevention upon the results of the records review shall be drawn up and sent by the Register to the Customer within 30 workdays, provided 100% payment for the service rendered
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