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The OTIF Survey on wagon law and the potential revision of the CUV Uniform Rules
The OTIF Survey on wagon law and the potential revision of the CUV Uniform Rules
In October 2024, following the OTIF General Assembly in September, the OTIF Secretariat launched the first global survey on the need to revise COTIF's Uniform Rules CIV, CIM, CUV and CUI. On 17 January 2025, the CIT sent the OTIF Secretariat a reply containing suggestions for revision concerning the CIV, CIM, CUV and CUI.
At the end of 2024, the CIT collaborated with the UIC and members of the CIM working group and incorporated their input into the overall response sent to the OTIF Secreteriat on 17 January 2025.
On 9 May 2025, the OTIF Secretariat published a new public consultation on its website and distributed it by e-mail to interested parties, following the session of the Ad Hoc Committee on Legal Issues and International Cooperation held in Berne from 8 to 10 April 2025.
The new public consultation consists of a global survey on wagon law and on the Uniform Rules concerning Contracts of Use of Vehicles in International Rail Traffic (CUV - Appendix D to the COTIF Convention).
The OTIF survey is divided into three parts:
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Part A contains questions on empty wagon traffic
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Part B contains questions relating to the provisions on liability for damage caused by a vehicle under the terms of Article 7 of the CUV Uniform Rules
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Part C contains a question relating to vehicles fitted with a means of traction and allows additional information to be provided.
The completed reply form should be returned by e-mail to the Legal Department of the OTIF Secretariat (law@otif.org) by 5 p.m. on 5 September 2025 at the latest, quoting the reference LAW-25047-JUR in the subject line and using the MS-Word spreadsheet format provided in the survey.
The CIT is continuing its cooperation with the UIC, within the framework of the Wagon Users Study Group (WU SG), which last met on 6 May and discussed the potential revision of the CUV rules and is maintaining its coordination within the framework of the CIM Working Group on 23 and 24 June 2025.
The results of this survey will then be discussed in more detail at the eighth meeting of the OTIF Ad Hoc Committee on Legal Issues and International Cooperation on 3 and 4 December 2025.
