KNV Busvervoer
Bezuidenhoutseweg 12, 2594 AV Den Haag
Postbus 19365, 2500 CJ Den Haag
General Terms of Carriage and Travel KNV Busvervoer T 070-3490923, F 084-8684999
filed at the District Court of The Hague on 17 maart 2017 under number 18/2017 E knvbusvervoer@knv.nl, I www.knv.nl
(This is the English version of the original Dutch text, whereby the Dutch shall prevail)
1
Article 1 – Definitions
1.1 The Carriage Agreement: an agreement for the
carriage by coach of one or more persons with or
without their baggage, not being a travel agreement
in the manner defined under section 1.4 below, and
including public transport governed by the CAO
Besloten Busvervoer.
1.2 The Carrier: the person who or which undertakes
to provide the carriage as defined above under
section 1.1.
1.3 The Client: the carrier’s opposite party in the
carriage agreement.
1.4 The Travel Agreement: an agreement whereby a
travel agent undertakes to provide the opposite
party with a Travel arrangement by coach, to be
organized by the travel agent, which includes an
overnight stay or which exceeds a period of
24 hours, as well as at least two of the following
services: a. carriage; b. accommodation: c. another
tourist service not connected with the carriage or the
accommodation, which constitutes a significant part
of the travel arrangement.
1.5 The Travel Agent: entity which, in the course of
its business, offers the general public or groups fullyorganized travel arrangements by coach in its own
name.
1.6 The Traveller: a person to be carried by the
carrier by coach or a person to be carried within the
frame-work of the travel agreement: a. the travel
agent’s opposite party; b. the person on whose
behalf the travel arrangement has been arranged
and who accepts the terms of that arrangement, or
c. the person to whom the legal relationship in
respect of the travel agent has been transferred in
the manner required in law.
Article 2 – Formation of the agreement
2.1 The carrier or the travel agent can revoke any
offer, even if it stipulates a period within which it
must have been accepted. Any offer made by the
carrier or the travel agent to enter into a carriage or
travel agreement shall be non-binding and can
therefore be revoked, even if the client or the
traveller has already accepted it. A non-binding offer
must be revoked by the carrier or the travel agent
within eight working hours of receipt of the
acceptance.
2.2 The party entering into a contract for or on
behalf of a third party is jointly and severally liable
for all obligations resulting from the contract. The
(other) travellers are responsible for their own part.
Article 3 – Prices
3.1 Unless agreed otherwise, the fare shall exclude
the value added tax payable in the Netherlands
(‘BTW’) and other government taxes or charges.
3.2 The carrier shall be authorized to pass on to the
opposite party any increases in the costs connected
with the execution of the carriage agreement, e.g.
rises in fuel costs, wages and salaries, the price of
food and drink or any other charges, by requesting
the payment of a surcharge on the agreed fare.
A traveller may reject the increase. That which is
provided in sections 6.2 and 6.3 below shall be
applicable in respect of such a rejection and the
consequences thereof.
3.3 The travel agent shall be authorized to increase
the agreed travel arrangement costs in connection
with increased carriage costs, including fuel costs,
wages and salaries, the taxes payable or the relevant
rate of exchange, until 20 days before the
commencement of the travel arrangement. A
traveller can reject the increase. That which is
provided for in sections 6.2 and 6.3 below shall be
applicable in respect of such a rejection and the
consequences thereof.
Such changes in the costs can also result in cuts in
the travel arrangement costs, unless the travel agent
cannot in reason be required to make cuts in
connection with the costs connected therewith.
The travel agent has the obligation to include in the
proposed travel arrangement all unavoidable
supplementary costs to be paid by the traveller for
the offered services and known at the publication.
Unavoidable supplementary costs are understood
to cover costs indissolubly related to the offered
service. Unavoidable supplementary costs do not
include the costs of extra services procured by the
travel agent or third party on the travellers’ request,
such as insurance and costs invoiced per party
when concluding the travel agreement and varying
according to the party’s size, and the costs of
reservation which can vary per sales channel.
3.4 The client or the traveller shall be obliged to pay
any extra costs for which he may be invoiced if a.
extra miles have been driven and/or extra hours
have been worked at his request or on account of
circumstances which can be attributed to him, other
than the miles or hours accounted for in the fare, or
the costs of the travel arrangement provided in the
present agreement, or b. if the carrier or the travel
agent is forced to derogate from the execution of the
carriage or the travel arrangement in any way (e.g.
the route, the timetable, the amenities or the
accommodation) at the client’s or traveller’s request
or c. on account of circumstances which cannot be
foreseen in advance e.g. traffic situations including
traffic jams and the duration of the drive and/or the
journey being longer than agreed.
Article 4 – Payment and the maintenance of rights
4.1 The carrier shall be authorized at any time to
require the client to pay a deposit on the fare or to
pay the fare in advance in full. The client shall be
required to pay the deposit or the full fare within the
period stipulated by the carrier. If the carrier should
fail to stipulate such a date, the deposit or full fare
must be paid to the carrier at the latest 14 days
before the date of departure. If the client should fail
to pay the deposit or the full fare within this period,
the carrier shall be authorized to cancel the carriage
agreement, in which case the client shall be obliged
to compensate the costs incurred or any other
damage suffered by the carrier. This compensation
for damage shall amount to at least 30% of the fare.
4.2 The client shall be obliged to pay the fare or the
balance thereof within 14 days of the invoice date,
unless the parties h ad agreed otherwise.
4.3 Upon entering into the travel agreement, the
traveller must pay a deposit of 30% of the travel
arrangement within a period to be indicated by the
travel agent. If the travel agent does not receive this
payment or does not receive it within this period, the
travel agent shall be authorized to cancel the travel
agreement, in which event the traveller shall not be
entitled to claim compensation for damage.
4.4 The traveller must have paid the travel
arrangement costs or the balance thereof in such a
way that the travel agent has received this sum at
the latest four weeks before the date on which the
travel arrangement commences. This period of
payment shall be considered to be final. In the event
of overdue payment, the traveller shall be in default,
and the travel agent shall be authorized either to
collect the sum payable with due observance of the
provisions of section 4.5 below or to cancel the
travel agreement. In the event of a cancellation, the
traveller shall be obliged to pay the travel agent
compensation for damage computed in conformity
with the provisions of section 5.2 below of the
present general terms.
4.5 The client or the traveller shall be in default in
the event of any failure to pay promptly, and shall be
required to pay an immediately payable penalty of
1.5% per month over the arrears without requiring
any summons or notice of default. In this connection,
a part of a month shall be considered to be a whole
month.
4.6 All the costs, both judicial and extra-judicial
(including the costs of legal counsel) which the
carrier or the travel agent is required to incur in
order to maintain its rights vis-à-vis the client or the
traveller shall be for the account of either the client
or the traveller respectively.
If the client or the traveller is in default for failing to
pay any sum charged by the carrier or the travel
agent, the client or the traveller shall be liable for
payment of the statutory interest, as well as any
extra-judicial costs, subject to the following
stipulations:
a) if the client or the traveller is a natural person not
acting in the course of a profession or business, the
extra-judicial costs, as provided for in and computed
in conformity with the Extrajudicial Collection Costs
Fees Decree (Besluit vergoeding buitengerechtelijke
incassokosten), shall be due if no payment is made
within 15 days from delivery of the reminder letter
to the debtor;
b) if the client or traveller acted in the course of a
profession or business, the carrier or the travel agent
respectively shall qualify for compensation of the
extra-judicial collection costs, in which case the costs
are established now for then at 15% of the
outstanding principal, with a minimum of € 75,
contrary to the stipulations of section 6:96
subsection 4 of the Dutch Civil Code, and contrary to
the Extrajudicial Collection Costs (Fees) Decree.”
Article 5 – Cancellations
5.1 If the client should cancel the carriage
agreement, he shall be obliged to compensate the
damage which the carrier suffers as a result. Unless
the parties have agreed otherwise, the client shall be
obliged to pay the carrier the following
compensation for damage, even if the carrier’s
prospectus or any other publications set out other
rules for cancellation – in addition to restitution of
any costs incurred by the carrier on the client’s
authority: a. if the client cancels 22 or more days
before the date on which the carriage is to be
provided: 15% of the agreed fare with a minimum of
€ 35; b. if the client cancels on the 21st day or
between 21 and 14 days before the date on which
the carriage is to be provided: 30% of the agreed
fare; c. if the client cancels on the 14th day or
between 14 and 2 days before the date on which the
carriage is to be provided: 50% of the agreed fare; d.
if the client cancels on the 2nd day before the date
on which the carriage is to be provided: 75% of the
agreed fare; e. if the client cancels on the date of
departure or during the carriage: the full fare.
5.2 If the traveller should cancel the travel
agreement on account of circumstances for which he
is accountable, he shall be obliged to compensate
the amount which the travel agent suffers as a
result. Unless the parties have agreed otherwise, the
traveller shall be obliged to pay the travel agent the
following compensation for damage, even if the
carrier’s prospectus or any other publications set out
other rules for cancellation: a. if the traveller cancels
56 or more days before the date of departure: € 35
per person; b. if the traveller cancels on the 56th day
or between 56 and 28 days before the date of
departure: the sum of the deposit up to a maximum
of 25% of the travel arrangement costs; c. if the
traveller cancels on the 28th day or between 28 and
14 days before the date of departure: 50% of the
travel arrangement costs; d. if the traveller cancels
on the 14th day or between the 14th and the last
day before the date of departure: 75% of the travel
arrangement costs; e. if the traveller cancels on the
date of departure or during the travel arrangement:
the full travel arrangement costs
5.3 If one or more travellers have booked certain
accommodation for their travel arrangement in
conjunction with one or more other travellers, and
the latter cancel their travel agreements, such a
cancellation shall also entail a cancellation for the
other traveller or travellers included in that travel
agreement or those travel agreements, and that
traveller or those travellers shall also be obliged to
pay compensation for damage on the grounds of
section 5.2 above.
5.4 The traveller cannot exercise his authority to
cancel in the course of the carriage or the travel
arrangement if the vehicle should be delayed as a
result. The client or the traveller can only give notice
of cancellation before the commencement of the
carriage or a travel arrangement if that notice is
issued in writing.
Article 6 – Amendment to the agreements
6.1 The carrier or travel agent shall be authorized to
amend the carriage or travel agreement in an
essential respect on account of urgent reasons and it
shall inform the client or the traveller thereof at the
earliest opportunity. The client or the traveller may
reject the amendment.
If the carrier or travel agent should amend the
carriage or travel agreement in a non-essential
aspect on account of urgent reasons, it shall inform
the client or the traveller at the earliest opportunity,
in which event the latter shall be entitled to reject
the amendment only if constitutes a more than
minor inconvenience.
6.2 The client or the traveller must inform the
carrier or the travel agent of any rejection at the
KNV Busvervoer
Bezuidenhoutseweg 12, 2594 AV Den Haag
Postbus 19365, 2500 CJ Den Haag
General Terms of Carriage and Travel KNV Busvervoer T 070-3490923, F 084-8684999
filed at the District Court of The Hague on 17 maart 2017 under number 18/2017 E knvbusvervoer@knv.nl, I www.knv.nl
(This is the English version of the original Dutch text, whereby the Dutch shall prevail)
2
earliest opportunity, in the absence of which the
rejection shall be null and void.
6.3 In the event of a rejection by the client or the
traveller in the manner described in section 6.2
above, the carrier or the travel agent shall be
authorized to terminate the carriage or travel
agreement, in the sense however that the latter
must exercise this authority at the earliest
opportunity. In the event of such a termination, the
client or the traveller shall be entitled to a refund or
discharge from the fare or the costs of the travel
arrangement, or, if the carriage or the travel
arrangement has already been partially provided, to
a proportion thereof.
Article 7 – Termination on account of poor bookings
or force majeure
7.1 The travel agent shall be authorized to terminate
the travel agreement without being required to
compensate the traveller for any damage if the
number of bookings is less than the required
minimum and if the traveller has been informed of
the termination in writing within the period
indicated in the travel agreement, or if the
compliance with the travel agreement should be
impossible or prevented by extraordinary and
unforeseeable circumstances beyond the control of
the travel agent, the consequences of which could
not have been averted despite any precautionary
measures.
7.2 The carrier shall be authorized to terminate the
carriage agreement if its compliance therewith
should become impossible or be prevented by
circumstances beyond its control; such
circumstances are taken to include strike action by
subordinates and/or ancillary personnel of the
carrier and extreme weather conditions when a
weather alarm has been announced.
If the travel agreement should entail carriage by
means of the provision of one or more seats in a
coach and not of the availability of a coach as such,
the carrier shall also be authorized to terminate the
travel agreement in the event of poor bookings in
the manner described in section 7.1. above.
7.3 In the event of termination, the client or the
traveller shall be entitled to a refund or discharge
from the fare or the travel arrangement costs, or, if
the carriage or the travel arrangement had already
been partially provided, a proportionate part
thereof.
Article 8 – Restriction of liability
8.1 If the carrier should be liable in law for damage
caused by the death or injury of a traveller as a result
of an accident involving the traveller which occurs
during or in connection with his/her carriage, and/or
damage due to the entire or partial loss of the
traveller’s baggage occurring during carriage, its
liability shall be limited to this damage, the liability
for this damage shall be restricted to the sum fixed in
or under the terms of the general order in council
issued pursuant to section 8:1157 of the Dutch Civil
Code, barring – in brief – the carrier’s deliberate
actions or carelessness. The carrier shall not be liable
in the event of loss of or damage to legal tender,
negotiable instruments, gold, silver, jewels,
jewellery, objets d’art, electronics or other valuable
items.
8.2 The carrier shall not be liable in respect of the
client or traveller for any damage other than that
referred to in section 8.1 above, such as for example
damage caused by delays in the carriage, unless the
damage is a result of the acts or omissions of the
carrier or the driver, and if these occurred with the
intent to cause damage or occurred carelessly in the
knowledge that they were likely to cause damage.
The circumstance that the carriage agreement can
not be fully complied with as a consequence
of applicable (traffic) law or other regulations shall
not be qualified as an omission of the carrier and
shall not produce liability.
In the event the carrier is liable for damage due to
delay, this shall be restricted based on section
8:1157 of the Dutch Civil Code to the sum fixed in or
under the terms of the general order in council
issued pursuant to this section of law.
8.3 The travel agent’s liability for damage other than
death or injury to the traveller shall be restricted to
three times the travel arrangement costs, in the
sense that the compensation for loss of travel
enjoyment shall amount to at most the sum of the
travel arrangement.
Where a service included in a travel agreement is
subject to a treaty which awards exclusion or limits
liability in favour of the travel organiser, said
exclusion or limitation shall apply to the lowest
amount permitted in favour of the travel agent.
Article 9 – The traveller’s obligations
9.1 The traveller shall be obliged to act in conformity
with the instructions issued by or on behalf of the
carrier or the travel agent, including collaborating
promptly and unconditionally in the checking of
baggage. The traveller is required to be in possession
of identity documentation and to show this on
request. The traveller shall be obliged to pack his
baggage properly before the commencement of the
carriage or the travel arrangement (for example in
order to prevent damage to other baggage or to the
coach) and to mark it clearly with his name, address
and destination. The carrier or the travel agent shall
be authorized to refuse baggage if the number of
items carried by the traveller or the volume thereof
is unreasonable, or exceeds 20 kilos per person. For
safety or security reasons or at the request of the
authorities, travellers may be asked to collaborate in
baggage checks. The traveller shall be obliged to
collaborate promptly. The carrier shall be entitled to
inspect, or to order the inspection of, baggage left
unattended.
The traveller shall be obliged to refrain from: a.
carrying with him/her drugs, explosives, weapons,
oxygen flasks or hazardous substances; b. standing or
walking while the coach is in motion or consuming
hot or cold beverages unless for the personal risk of
the traveller. In the coach, the traveller shall be
obliged to refrain from: a. damaging and/or soiling
the coach; b. the consumption of alcoholic beverages
(unless with explicit permission of the carrier or
travel agent), and from the use of drugs at any time;
c. touching emergency provisions such as the
emergency door and emergency hatch; d. smoking;
e. obstructing personnel in the course of their duty in
any way; f. causing a nuisance or inconvenience to
fellow travellers or road users, including spilling hot
beverages. g. endangering his own safety, or the
safety of the other travellers or driver, or of any
other road users.
9.2 The carrier or the travel agent shall be
authorized to refuse the traveller carriage or further
carriage or to have this refused and to order him to
leave the coach immediately if the traveller should
act in breach of the obligations described in section
9.1 above, without the client or the traveller being
entitled to any compensation or refund of (part of
the) the fare or the travel arrangement costs on that
account.
9.3 The traveller shall furthermore be obliged to
carry all the travel documents necessary for the
travel arrangement, such as valid passport and valid
visas, to be present in good time for departure and
for each departure from stopovers.
The traveller shall furthermore be obliged to wear
safety belts during the journey insofar as these are
present. When transporting children aged under 12
years accompanying persons have the responsibility
that the former wear safety belts during the journey
insofar as these are present. If the traveller’s failure
to ensure that he carries the necessary documents or
to be present in good time for departure or for each
departure from stopovers or to refuse to wear the
safety belts should result in significant delays, the
carrier or the travel agent shall be authorized to
refuse that traveller’s carriage or the travel
arrangement, in which case the client or the traveller
shall not be able to claim any compensation for
damage or restitution of the fare or the travel
arrangement costs on that account.
9.4 Without prejudice to that which is provided for
in sections 9.1 to 9.3 above, the client or the
traveller shall be obliged to compensate the carrier
or the travel agent for any damage which the latter
may have suffered and may suffer as a result of the
fact that the traveller has acted in breach of any of
the obligations described above.
Article 10: Camera monitoring
In the interest of the travellers and driver(s), CCTV
monitoring by the carrier shall be permitted. CCTV
monitoring shall be in accordance with the Personal
Data Protection Act (Wet bescherming
persoonsgegevens) and the Policy Rules on CCTV
Monitoring based on this Act.
Article 11 – Complaints
11.1
If the client or the traveller should wish to invoke a
default by the carrier or the travel agent in its
compliance with the agreement, the client or the
traveller must inform the carrier or the travel agent
of this complaint immediately and in writing or in
another appropriate manner, so that the carrier or
the travel agent can find a suitable solution.
11.2 If the complaint is not rectified to the
satisfaction of the client or the traveller during the
course of the agreement, the latter may submit a
written and fully-argued complaint to the carrier or
the travel agent at the latest within one month of
the execution of the agreement or, if the carriage or
the travel arrangement was cancelled, within a
month of the planned date of departure. If the
complaint does not concern the execution of the
agreement but the way in which it was entered into,
it must be submitted to the carrier or the travel
agent within a month of the disputed act or
omission.
11.3 The carrier or travel agent must handle a
complaint within a month of the submission thereof.
If the carrier or travel agent should fail to handle a
complaint within this period or fail to rectify it to the
client’s or the traveller’s satisfaction, the latter may
submit his complaint in writing to a complaints body
set up by the KNV Busvervoer (Royal Dutch Transport
Association – Coach Transport) at the latest three
months after execution of the agreement or the
planned date of departure or after the date on which
the carrier or the travel agent undertook the
disputed acts or omissions in respect of the way the
agreement was entered into. This complaints body
shall decide by way of binding advice.
11.4 A traveller who does not wish to make use of
this binding advice procedure can apply to the
Cantonal Court with jurisdiction in law or, if the claim
should be within the jurisdiction of the District Court,
to the District Court within whose jurisdiction the
carrier or the travel agent is domiciled, without
prejudice to the latter’s right to apply to another
District Court with jurisdiction in law.
11.5 Notwithstanding the stipulations of mandatory
law in regard to preclusion of legal action due to
lapse of time on failure to make timely notification as
per section 8:1753 of the Dutch Civil Code, any claim
which the client or the traveller may have shall lapse
one year after the execution of the agreement or
one year after the planned date of departure or after
the date on which the carrier or travel agent
undertook the disputed acts or omission in respect
of the way in which the agreement was entered into.
Article 12 – Applicable law
12.1
The law of the Netherlands shall be applicable to all
carriage or travel agreements.