F ID I N E WS FASI COUNTS ON NEW RULES The FASI fund remains healthy, despite a large payout last year. To ensure the longevity of the fund, new rules were agreed and implemented during the Delegates Meeting in Amsterdam FASI serves as a kind of insurance in case of calamity such as one party going bankrupt or being cancelled from FIDI for other reasons F or those of you who regularly use the FASI (FIDI Affiliate Secured Invoice) system to secure your invoices and report on those that remain outstanding for more than 90 days, the rules are clear and well known. Many of the changes are actually clarifications to the overall principle. For example, FASI covers all activities directly related to international moving. The new rules now explicitly list the exclusions, such as permanent storage, Storage-InTransit for more than three months, damage claims and claims chargebacks, customs duties and taxes. The idea behind the creation of FASI, formerly known as PPP, was to protect FIDI Affiliates against default payment by other members when shipping customers effects to each other around the world. It serves as a kind of insurance in case of calamity such as one party going bankrupt or being cancelled from FIDI for other reasons. However, FASI was not created for backing extraneous credit terms between FIDI Affiliates, and therefore should not be used as an excuse to relax your usual credit control. Businesses shouldnt let credit run up to amounts of more than 100,000 just because they are, in theory, covered by FASI. Like any insurance programme, it is a matter of risk management: the insured party has certain obligations to mitigate any potential risk. Therefore, FIDI delegates in Amsterdam voted in favour of penalising frequent abusers of the system, specifically those who appear in the monthly slow-payers list more than six times in a rolling year. At the same delegates meeting, attendees approved lowering annual compensation limits to 150,000 per creditor and 350,000 per debtor, to protect the fund and to urge FIDI Affiliates to perform their own credit management diligently to mitigate the risk. FASI: NOT AN ALL-RISK PROGRAMME The comparison of FASI with an insurance programme is although not legally the same similar in set-up. FIDI deliberately created this to cover part, not all, of your risk. The annual premium of 200 is not high and does not allow for FASI to become an all-risk programme in which all eventualities are covered. If we would do so, the increased risk would certainly lead to a considerable higher annual premium, in order to keep the overall fund at a healthy level. Please read the latest version of the FASI rules on FIDINET - and ensure that your coordinators and finance staff follow the directives and spirit of FASI. FUTURE CHANGES TO FASI The FIDI Board and office will continue to monitor FASI regulations and trends and will submit proposals for change when needed. Some of our delegates at the Amsterdam meeting asked if FIDI would consider lowering the reporting deadline to a maximum of 90 days, down from the current 120 days. This is an interesting approach, as it raises the question of whether FIDI should simply follow industry practice of ever increasing the payment delays, to the detriment of smaller businesses and their supply chain, or whether FIDI should be leading the change to bring back the payment delays to normal proportions. The FIDI Board will review this and will speak to other associations with similar programmes to get their opinions as well, before making any change proposals on this regard. HELP US PROTECT BUSINESS AND PARTNERSHIPS While last year was a good one for the FASI programme, we can make 2019 even better. By promptly reporting any unpaid invoices, you help FIDI achieve a favourable outcome for everyone involved. Secure invoices fast and easy, with FASI. 20 FF292 AugSep19 pp20-21 FASI.indd 20 WWW. F I D I . OR G 15/07/2019 14:46