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Transport

Bill paves the way for electronic consignment notes

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Legal news
calendar 12 November 2012
globus Denmark

A Danish bill will now make it possible to use electronic CMR consignment notes. The bill will also enable a sender and a carrier to communicate electronically in connection with the international carriage of goods by road. The bill was tabled in parliament on 1 November.

The reason for the bill is an additional protocol to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) which was ratified by the UN in 2008. The additional protocol makes it possible to use electronic consignment notes in connection with the international carriage of goods by road on an equal basis with paper-based consignment notes. The bill will implement the additional protocol into Danish law (the Danish CMR Act).

Amendments

The bill proposes the following new provisions:

  • Consignment notes and other demands or other forms of communication relating to the performance of the contract of carriage may be made out electronically
  • The consignment note will be signed electronically by the parties to the contract who each must have access to the particulars in the consignment note
  • The carrier must, at the sender’s request, hand over a receipt for the goods and all information necessary for identifying the consignment and for access to the electronic consignment note

The bill also contains rules on the information to be given in electronic consignment notes. This makes additional demands on electronic consignment notes which apply in addition to the general requirements to CMR consignment notes.

The additional requirements consist in giving notice of the procedures as to how:

  • To issue and deliver the electronic consignment note
  • To ensure that the particulars in the consignment note remain complete and unaltered
  • To supplement and amend the consignment note
  • To demonstrate entitlement to the rights arising out of the electronic consignment note
  • To confirm delivery to the consignee
  • To replace (where relevant) the electronic consignment note by a consignment note in a different form

It will also be possible to exchange documents for customs clearance electronically.

IUNO’s opinion

Being a paperless office, IUNO sympathizes in principle with the proposal for conversion to electronic form. However, the bill raises many questions without providing the answers. If the bill is introduced and adopted as expected, it will, in our opinion, lead to increased attention to the electronic communication between the parties in legal proceedings concerning carriages subject to the CMR.

The rules on the evidentiary value of the consignment note will be challenged, in particular if both electronic and paper-based consignment notes are issued in connection with the same carriage. Here the politicians have left it to the courts to solve the disputes which will undoubtedly arise.

The bill will also have considerable implications for contracts between freight buyers and carriers where it is necessary to ensure that the contract provides the necessary particulars on the agreed electronic procedures.

[Draft: Bill to amend the Danish Road Traffic Act and the Danish Act on Contracts of Carriage in connection with the International Carriage of Goods by Road of 1 November 2012]

The reason for the bill is an additional protocol to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) which was ratified by the UN in 2008. The additional protocol makes it possible to use electronic consignment notes in connection with the international carriage of goods by road on an equal basis with paper-based consignment notes. The bill will implement the additional protocol into Danish law (the Danish CMR Act).

Amendments

The bill proposes the following new provisions:

  • Consignment notes and other demands or other forms of communication relating to the performance of the contract of carriage may be made out electronically
  • The consignment note will be signed electronically by the parties to the contract who each must have access to the particulars in the consignment note
  • The carrier must, at the sender’s request, hand over a receipt for the goods and all information necessary for identifying the consignment and for access to the electronic consignment note

The bill also contains rules on the information to be given in electronic consignment notes. This makes additional demands on electronic consignment notes which apply in addition to the general requirements to CMR consignment notes.

The additional requirements consist in giving notice of the procedures as to how:

  • To issue and deliver the electronic consignment note
  • To ensure that the particulars in the consignment note remain complete and unaltered
  • To supplement and amend the consignment note
  • To demonstrate entitlement to the rights arising out of the electronic consignment note
  • To confirm delivery to the consignee
  • To replace (where relevant) the electronic consignment note by a consignment note in a different form

It will also be possible to exchange documents for customs clearance electronically.

IUNO’s opinion

Being a paperless office, IUNO sympathizes in principle with the proposal for conversion to electronic form. However, the bill raises many questions without providing the answers. If the bill is introduced and adopted as expected, it will, in our opinion, lead to increased attention to the electronic communication between the parties in legal proceedings concerning carriages subject to the CMR.

The rules on the evidentiary value of the consignment note will be challenged, in particular if both electronic and paper-based consignment notes are issued in connection with the same carriage. Here the politicians have left it to the courts to solve the disputes which will undoubtedly arise.

The bill will also have considerable implications for contracts between freight buyers and carriers where it is necessary to ensure that the contract provides the necessary particulars on the agreed electronic procedures.

[Draft: Bill to amend the Danish Road Traffic Act and the Danish Act on Contracts of Carriage in connection with the International Carriage of Goods by Road of 1 November 2012]

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