CIT Comments: Legal environments for the rail transport

1. CIT Comments: Legal environments for the rail transport Part 2: Political and legal environment of Multimodality Dr Erik Evtimov, Deputy Secretary General CIT Bern, 5 September 2013

2. Comité international des transportsferroviaires (CIT): www.cit-rail.org • 200 railway undertakings and shipping companies • Association under Swiss law, located in Bern • Tasks: • Implementation of COTIF and EU law for practical use • Standardisation of contractual relationships • Representation of the interests of members to authorities and other associations

3. Intermodal solutions: • The idea of integrated multimodal solutions • Modal + modal = multimodal (intermodality, comodality, etc) • Multimodal contracts for different modes of transport • United Nations Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods (Geneva, 1980) • Rules for Multimodal transport documents (UNCTAD/ICC Proposals) • CMR 1956 • COTIF 1999 • Rotterdam Rules 2009 • The necessity: global logistic chains for multimodal services door-to-door

4. International railway law: COTIF main agreement and the annexes Vilnius Protocol 1999 COTIF Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail _______________________ Protocol on privileges et immunities of OTIF Appendix A CIV Appendix B CIM Appendix C RID Appendix D CUV Appendix E CUI Appendix F APTU Appendix G ATMF

5. Contract of carriage for rail-sea traffic under COTIF/CIM rules • COTIF/CIM – rail+ agreement • Application to the sea carriage of goods • Legal bases • Art. 1 § 4 CIM: „When international carriage being the subject of a single contract of carriage includes carriage by sea as a supplement to carriage by rail, these Uniform Rules shall apply if the carriage by sea is performed on services included in the list of services provided for in Article 24 § 1 of the Convention.” • Art. 24 § 1 COTIF: „The maritime services referred in Article 1 of the CIM Uniform Rules, on which carriage is performed in addition to carriage by rail subject to a single contract of carriage, shall be included in two lists: • a) the CIV list of maritime services, • b) the CIM list of maritime services.” • Procedure, Art. 24 § 3 COTIF • COTIF member states shall notify the maritime lines and the shipping company • Two member states are necessary (in the praxis is notification of one member enough) • OTIF Lists CIV and CIM of the maritime lines • Differences with the OTIF Lists on the Art. 1 § 6 CIM (accession to COTIF with CIV and/or CIM lines)

6. Special COTIF/CIM liability rules for rail-sea traffic • Article 23 CIM – basis of the rail-sea liability • Article 38 § 1 CIM – additional exemptions from the general liability in the rail-sea traffic • Fire • Saving or attempting to save life or property at sea • Loading the goods on the deck • Perils, dangers and accidents of the sea or other navigable waters • CIM general compensation rules for total or partial loss, damage and exceeding of the transit period are applicable – Articles 30, 32 and 33 CIM

7. Consignment note = only a proof of the contract of carriage (Art. 6 § 2 CIM) However, consignment note is obligatory for custom purposes (Art. 6 § 7 CIM) International associations of carriers (CIT) have the task to establish uniform model consignment notes (Art. 6 § 8 CIM) Except if otherwise agreed, the completion of the consignment note shall be in the responsibility of the consignor (Art. 8 CIM) Electronic consignment note: functionalequivalence with the paper one (Art. 6 § 9 CIM) Single Contract of carriage: the CIM consignment note

8. Example: Black sea region Odesa Kavkaz Constanza Varna Poti Bat’umi Samsun Derince

9. Contract of carriage of goods under SMGS agreement Railway and the consignor/consignee Application on defined railway lines Between railway stations and not ports! Formal contract of carriage Take over of the goods SMGS consignment note is condition sine qua non Obligation to carry Obligation for publishing of tariffs (prices) Single carrier Successive carrier/s No expressis verbis of substitute carrier/s But is not prohibit ex lege No contractual carrier Non for multimodal solutions

10. Legal necessity: Rotterdam Rules: broader scope of application maritime+ shift from tackle-to-tackle to door-to-door (multimodal transportation) more options for different jurisdictions (ports of loading/discharge) CMR - Article 2 mode-on-mode concept road+ additional carriage to the road transport by other mode of transport during the sea or rail part of the carriage the goods stay on the road vehicle COTIF/CIM - Article 1 § 3, Article 1 § 4 rail+ concept Contractual solutions: Bridging the different conventions on contractual base Common base are the trade contracts and contractual freedom Mutual recognition of transport documentation Network liability (Art. 26 RR) Using international law principles – lex specialis; lex generalis; lex posterior Interlinking the different sector organisations and secretariats

11. Multimodal solutions for global trade 1% global trade by green transportation by rail is not enough: We have to cooperate!