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Case Law

Apart from the provisions of Article 48 CIM on the limitation of actions, which must be considered in the context of the question of the period for preservation of transport documents in general and the consignment note data specifically, the CIM Uniform Rules do not contain any explicit provision relating to the question above. Hence, the national law of the respective COTIF Member State is applicable – see expressis verbis Article 8 § 2 COTIF[1]. Nor do the CIT products contain any explicit provisions on this subject, with one exception regarding the Checklist for the contract of electronic interchange of consignment note data (EDI Contract Checklist) for the CIM electronic consignment note in Appendix 7a of the CIT Freight Traffic Manual (GTM-CIT). Point 9 of the EDI contract checklist states that the requirements of transport law, customs law, tax law, etc. must be taken into account when archiving the electronic consignment note data.

The legal situation is the same for the period for preservation of wagon note data. Neither the CUV Uniform Rules nor the General Contract of Use (CUU) contain any provisions on the subject. By analogy with the EDI Contract Checklist for the CUV wagon note, the EDI Contract Checklist in Appendix 1a Point 10 of the CIT Wagon Manual (GTW-CIT) specifies that the requirements of transport law, customs law, tax law, etc. must be taken into account for the archiving of the electronic wagon note data.

erik.evtimov(at)cit-rail.org

[1] In the absence of provisions in the Convention, national law shall apply.