CONSTRUING THE TERM “STANDARD RISKS” WITH REGARD TO THE OBLIGATION OF THE WAREHOUSE KEEPER AND FREIGHT FORWARDER TO EFFECT THE INSURANCE CONTRACT IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Although the Law on Contracts and Torts should have, by its principles and provisions, eliminated any doubt as to the rights and obligations of the contracting parties in the legal affairs governed by it, this this did not fully occur as regards particular contracts. This is especially so in commercial storage and forwarding service contracts in connection with the insurance obligation and the issues of construing and meaning of the “standard risks” term. In this paper, the author analyses the “standard risks” term, according to positive regulations, selected domestic and foreign sources of autonomous law in the field of freight forwarding and views of legal theory, and makes a number of proposals for improving the text of the provisions of the Law on Contracts and Torts and the Draft Labour Code of the Civil Code of the Republic of Serbia. Regarding the content of the obligation of warehouse keepers and freight forwarders to take out insurance when the contract for the provision of storage and shipping services does not specify the risks that should be covered under the insurance.

Keywords: standard risks, customs, fair trade practices, insurance, warehouse keeper, freight forwarder