船舶买卖挪威格式合同中的卖方

2018-04-14756
  5.3 SELLERS AND BUYERS

  5.3卖方和买方

  5.3.1 Sellers: who are they?

  5.3.1卖方:何谓卖方?

  Although Saleform refers to “Sellers” in the plural, usually the seller will be the sole registered owner of the ship. But there may be circumstances in which the seller is not the registered owner at the time when the sale contract is made but it undertakes that it will have the right to pass title to the buyer when title in the ship is to pass under the contract. For example:

  虽然Saleform格式是以复数的形式提到‘卖方’,通常,卖方是船舶唯一的注册所有人。但也有可能在订立买卖合同当时,卖方不是船舶注册所有人的情况,但在此情况下,他承诺,当船舶主权按照合同发生转移时,其将会拥有将船舶主权转移给买方的权利。例如:

  the seller may be the charterer of the ship under a bareboat charter who will become the owner of the ship subject to the completion of purchase arrangements contained in the charter;

  the seller may have entered into a contract to purchase the ship but not yet taken delivery (and title) with a view to “on-selling” the ship to the buyer on a back to back basis; and

  while the seller may be the economic owner of the ship, the registered ownership may be held by a different company. This could be the case, for example, where the ship is subject to a finance lease and the registered ownership is held by a nominee of the lessor.

  (1). 卖方可能是船舶光船租赁的承租人,在完成该租赁合同内包含的洽租协议安排后,成为船舶所有人; 【1】

  (2). 卖方可能已经签订了一个购买船舶的合同,但还未交付(和主权),目的是以‘背靠背’形式将船舶‘出售’给买方; 【2】

  (3). 而卖方可能是船舶经济安排的船东,该船舶登记的所有权可能是由不同的公司拥有。这种情况可能是,例如,船舶受限于融资租赁的安排,以及船舶登记所有权是由出租人的指定代理人所拥有。

  The buyer would be well advised to make sure that the seller is (or, at the time of delivery, will be) the sole registered owner of the ship because, in the event of a failure to deliver by a non-owning seller, the buyer might find that the seller has insufficient assets against which to bring and enforce a claim for damages. In such circumstances the buyer would also be denied the remedy of specific performance.

  买方最好小心谨慎,以确保卖方(或,在船舶交接时,将会)是船舶唯一的注册所有人,因为,万一是‘非船舶所有人’的卖方未能交付船舶的情况下,买方可能会发现,卖方并没有足够的资产以值得向他提起诉讼和执行损害赔偿的请求。在这种情况下,买方也将会被拒绝给予履约指令的补救措施。【3】

  Although this may seem an obvious point, the buyer should also check to make sure that the seller can pass full title in the ship, because in some cases ownership may be divided between two or more parties.

  虽然这一点可能看起来是显而易见的事,买方还应当核实,以确保卖方能够转移船舶完整的主权,因为在某些情况下,可能会有两个或两个以上的人共同拥有船舶所有权。

  5.3.2 Transcript of register

  5.3.2 注册登记证书的誊本

  The usual method by which the buyer may confirm the identity of the registered owner of a ship is by obtaining an official transcript of register from the ship registry in which the ship is registered. The form of the transcript varies from ship registry to ship registry but typically it will give brief particulars of the ship, the name and address of the registered owner (or owners) and usually the transcript will also show brief details of any mortgage or other encumbrance which is registered against the ship.

  买方正常是可以通过获得船舶注册登记国家出示的官方正式登记证书誊本的方法,来确认船舶登记注册所有人的身份。誊本的格式因船舶登记国家的不同而各有差异,但通常它会提供一些简要的船舶资料,船名和注册所有人(或,多名所有人)的地址,而且,誊本通常也会显示船舶登记的任何抵押或其他债务负担有关的简要资料。

  There is widespread belief and acceptance within the shipping industry that an official transcript of register is an “iron-clad” confirmation of a ship's registered ownership but, in many jurisdictions (including England and Wales), it actually serves only as prima facie evidence. Moreover, with regard to encumbrances, the buyer should also note that the transcript of register will only reveal encumbrances which have been registered against the ship and that certain encumbrances may not be registered or even capable of registration. Whilst the precise list of registerable and unregisterable encumbrances will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the most common example of a registerable encumbrance is the ship mortgage and the most common example of an unregisterable encumbrance is the maritime lien.

  在航运业普遍相信和接受官方正式登记证书誊本是船舶登记所有权‘铁证如山’的证据,但是,在许多司法管辖权国家(包括英格兰和威尔士),它实际上只是作为船舶注册的初步证据。【4】 此外,关于船舶债务负担,买方也应当注意到,登记注册证书的誊本仅仅是显示船舶已经登记的债务负担,而某些债权负担可能还未登记,甚至是不可能够登记。虽然可登记注册的和不可登记注册的精确的债务清单因司法管辖权不同而各有差异,可登记的债务负担最常见的例子是船舶抵押,和,不可登记的债务负担最常见的例子是船舶优先权。

  A third function of an official transcript is to give the buyer comfort that the ship it is contracting to purchase corresponds with the information about the ship which is held by the ship registry. In this regard it is noted that while numerous ships operating around the world may share the same name, the flag authorities usually require that no two ships may be registered under their flag with the same name.

  官方正式的登记注册证书誊本给予买方安慰的第三个功能是,签约购买的船舶符合该船舶登记注册显示的相关信息。在这方面,应当指出,虽然在世界各地营运的很多船舶可能会使用相同的名称,船旗国主管当局通常要求在其船旗之下注册的船舶名称不能雷同。

  A well-advised buyer will often obtain an official transcript of register before entering into the contract and again immediately before delivery of the ship.

  一个小心谨慎买方往往会在合同订立之前,以及临近船舶交接之前,最好明智地获得官方正式的登记注册证书誊本。【5】

  5.3.3 Doctrine of corporate personality

  5.3.3 公司法人的人格学说

  When evaluating the status of its proposed counterparty, the buyer should be aware of the ways in which shipping businesses are often structured. The ship which is being sold may be owned by a thinly capitalised and (in terms of its borrowings) highly geared limited liability company which has no traceable assets other than the ship, and the earnings and other receivables (including insurance and sales proceeds) generated by the ship. Often such one-ship ship-owning companies will be incorporated in low-tax jurisdictions which have limited reporting requirements. In the past it was common for the ownership of such companies to be concealed by the mechanism of bearer shareholdings but mandatory disclosure requirements and the general movement towards transparency of company ownership has resulted in the use of bearer shares being much reduced. The location of the seat of executive control may also be disguised or concealed by the use of nominee directors and other officers. The shares in such ship-owning companies may be held by other companies (located in the same or similar jurisdictions) whose only traceable assets will be the shares which they hold in ship-owning companies whose ships are operated as part of the same fleet.

  当评估预期交易对手的地位状况时,买方应当明白,航运企业通常的结构组成方式。即将出售的船舶可以是只有微薄资本和(在借款方面)高负债的有限责任公司所拥有,它除了该船舶以及营运收入和其它可收款项(包括保险和出售收益)之外,没有任何可以追溯的资产。通常,这样的单船船东公司是在低赋税司法管辖权国家注册成立的,只有受限的申报要求。在过去,这类公司的所有权通常是通过持有人(不记名)持股的机制被掩盖起来,但,强制性信息披露的要求以及对公司所有权透明度的大运动趋势,导致不记名股票的使用大大减少。行政控制的中心席位所在地,也有可能通过使用指定董事成员和其它高级职员的方法而伪装或隐匿起来。这样的船舶公司股份也可能被其他公司(位于相同,或相似的司法管辖范围)所持有,其唯一可追溯的资产将是他们在船舶公司拥有的股份,其船舶也只是作为同一船队运营的众多船舶中的一部分。

  What are the implications of such structures for a buyer? Even though the seller of a ship may appear to be part of a larger group of companies, it might be very difficult for a buyer who has a claim against a seller to pursue that claim against other members of the same group. Even if the buyer can establish real links between the seller and other companies in the same group, as a general rule courts will be reluctant to look through corporate structures: if the buyer has made a contract with the seller only, any claim for breach of that contract must be brought against the seller and not against its parent or other corporate entities within the same group. In Atlas Maritime Co SA v. Avalon Maritime Ltd (The Coral Rose (No 1)) (1991) Staughton LJ observed that:

  这种组织结构会对买方有何暗示?尽管船舶卖方看起来可能是大公司集团中的一部分成员,向卖方索赔的买方,很可能非常困难向同一集团的其他成员提出索赔。即使买方可以确定卖方和同一集团的其他公司之间的存在真正联系,由于一般的规则,法院也将不愿意去彻底审核公司的结构:如果买方是与卖方签订的合同,合同违约的任何索赔必须是向卖方提出诉讼,而不是针对其母公司或同一集团内的其他公司实体。在Atlas Maritime Co SA v. Avalon Maritime Ltd (The Coral Rose (No 1)) (1991) 案【6】, Staughton大法官评论说:

  “The creation or purchase of a subsidiary company with minimal liability, which will operate with the parent's funds and on the parent's directions but not expose the parent to liability, may not seem to some the most honest way of trading. But it is extremely common in the international shipping industry and elsewhere. To hold that it creates an agency relationship between the subsidiary and the parent would be a revolutionary doctrine.”

  ‘以最小的责任成立或者购置一个附属子公司,并将使用母公司的资金和按照母公司的指示营运操作,但没有使母公司遭受责任风险,似乎,这可能不是最诚实的交易方式。但是,在国际航运业和其他地区,这种现象极为常见。保持子公司与母公司之间建立的代理关系将是一个创新性的学说。’

  The English courts have therefore accepted that the principle of corporate personality may be used as a legitimate device for the limitation of liability and widespread reliance on this principle in the international shipping business affords no basis for piercing the corporate veil. The Court of Appeal in the case of Adams v. Cape Industries plc (1990) reconfirmed that an English court cannot disregard this principle:

  因此,英国法院已经接受公司法人的人格原则,可以用来作为限制责任的合法手段,而且在国际航运业广泛依赖这一原则已为不能揭开公司面纱提供任何理论依据。在Adams v. Cape Industries plc (1990)【7】 案,上诉法院再次确认,英国法院不能不重视这一原则:

  “… merely because it considers that justice so requires. Our law … recognises the creation of subsidiary companies, which though in one sense the creature of their parent companies, will … be treated as separate legal entities with all the rights and liabilities which would normally attach to separate legal entities….”

  ‘…仅仅是因为认为这是公正的需要。我们的法律…承认设立附属子公司,其虽然在某种意义上是母公司的产物,将会…被视为独立的法人实体,所有这些的权利和义务正常都是归属于单独的法律实体…。’

  There are, however, some narrowly defined exceptions to this general principle. For example, the English courts may be prepared to probe company structures and to impute liability: where the device of incorporation is being used to attain fraudulent ends; or where there is a real indication of trusteeship or a nominee holding; or even where a parent company instructs a subsidiary to breach a contract with a third party.

  然而,对这一普遍原则,还规定有一些有限的例外情况。例如,英国法院可能准备深入调查公司的结构组成和推定责任:当设立这种公司的策略是用来达到欺诈目的;【8】 或真正显示存在信托关系或指定代理人控制; 【9】 或者母公司指示其附属子公司向第三方违约。 【10】

  With these structural issues in mind, a well-informed buyer may negotiate for collateral support for the performance of the seller's obligations. Such support could take the form of a requirement that the seller's ultimate parent should be a party to the sale contract on the basis that the parent would be liable jointly with the seller or on a joint and several basis for the performance of the seller's pre-delivery and postdelivery obligations under the sale contract. The use of joint liability provisions is a feature of many shipbuilding contracts and there is no good reason why such provisions cannot also be used in contracts for the sale of second-hand ships. Alternatively, it may be possible for the buyer to obtain some other form of security for the performance of the seller's obligations.

  考虑到这些公司结构的问题,消息灵通的买方可以商定要求(母公司)为卖方履行义务提供附带的担保支持。这种支持可以采取的形式是要求卖方的最终母公司应当是买卖合同的一方当事人,在此基础上,其母公司将与卖家承担共同的责任,或卖方交船前的共同履约责任以及交船后的连带合同义务。采用连带责任的条款规定是许多造船合同的一个特色,这没有充分的理由,为什么这样条款规定不能同时也用于二手船买卖合同。或者,买方可能会,获得买方履行义务的其他一些形式的担保。【11】

  注释

  【1】例如,在代号为BARECON2001,BIMCO光船租赁合同标准格式第4部分。在附录5全文列出BARECON2001格式。

  【2】请参看下文第六章,第6.16节‘背对背’买卖交易的论述。

  【3】请参看下文第5.53.16节。

  【4】请参看下文第5.5.5节。

  【5】请参看下文第5.32节,在Saleform2012第8条款,关于船舶文件的规定。

  【6】[1991] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 563 at 571.

  【7】[1990] Ch 433 at 536.

  【8】请参看 Wallersteiner v. Moir (No 1) [1974] 1 WLR 991; Re A Co [1985] BCLC 333 和 Glastnos Shipping Ltd and another v. Panasian Shipping Corp and another (The Glastnos) [1991] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 482.

  【9】请参看 The Aventicum [1978] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 184; The Catur Samudra [2010] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 305 (新加坡高等法院) 和 The Saudi Prince (No 1) [1982] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 255.

  【10】Stocznia Gdanska SA v. Latvian Shipping Co, Latreefer Inc and others (No 3) [2001] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 537 although, on the facts of the case, it appears that this exception will be of very narrow scope.显然,这种例外的适用范围非常有限。

  【10】请参看第七章第7.2节。

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