| Popis: |
It has become fairly common for a company to outsource one or several of its logistic activities to a party separate from the business of the company itself. Since the original agreement usually involves two parties, the seller and the buyer, the logistics company is called the third party. The relationship between the outsourcing company and the third party varies in form and in depth but can sometimes be very close, almost to be considered a joint venture. When the co-operation between the two parties includes more than just one separate logistic service and the third party adapts its business to a certain extent to his principals needs, it constitutes third party logistics. If the logistics company, or a party employed by it, becomes insolvent when having the entrusted goods in his possession questions may arise concerning the right to the property. The company in bankruptcy in most cases has no claims of its own to the property. It is normally the creditors of the insolvent party who claim that the property ought to be a part of the bankrupt’s estate. According to the principal rule the owner of property always has the right to separation of his property. There are however several cases when thisright of separation is set aside to protect other interests. The goods kept by the third party are very often homogenous products since one of the advantages of engaging a third party is connected to large-scale transportation or large-scale stock-keeping. In such a situation the goods can be mixed with similar goods for practical reasons. When the owner has the ability of identifying his goods among the others by presenting a mark or a separate container in which his goods are placed his right to separation remains. However, if he doesn’t have the ability to do so he loses that right and is left with nothing but a right to claim a certain value in the bankruptcy. This often means the same thing as being left with nothing. The logistics business has developed into consisting of more than traditional logistic activities such as for example transportation. A third party logistics company often takes part in the packaging or distribution process. This way the third party sometimes becomes a part of the manufacturing chain. This has lead to another situation in which the original owner of the goods may lose his right to the goods. In spite of having contributed with all the material and instructions to manufacture a product, the principal may lose his right to the goods if they are transformed to such a large extent that they can be seen as something completely different from the material given at first. Even when the two parties have agreed that the right to the final product should be given to the original owner of the material the conflict might anyhow remain between him and the third party’s creditors. These issues involving creditors’ claims are implied by force. Therefore there is usually no way for the outsourcing company to protect itself against them by means of a contract. One of the objects of this dissertation is to shed light upon these problems. Another object of my work is to map out the current legislation and precedent in order to evaluate it to see how well it serves its purposes. |
