The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has prescribed a detailed procedure for standardizing the conditions for the international carriage of goods by road.

The FBR has issued SRO.2202(I)/2022 to notify the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) rules.

The new rules have specified procedures for standardizing the conditions for the international carriage of goods by road, particularly with respect to the documents used for such carriage and to the carrier’s liability as envisaged under the CMR Convention.

These rules shall apply to every contract for the carriage of goods by road in vehicles for reward, when the place of taking over of the goods and the place designated for delivery, as specified in the contract, are situated in two different countries, of which at least one is a contracting country, irrespective of the place of residence and the nationality of the parties. These rules shall apply also where carriage coming within its scope is carried out by states or by governmental institutions or organizations.

The contract of carriage shall be confirmed by the making out of a CMR consignment note. It shall be evidence of making of the contract of carriage under these rules and of the receipt of the goods by the carrier. It shall be made out in the specified four original copies signed and stamped by the sender and by the carrier.

When the goods which are to be carried have to be loaded in different vehicles, are of different kinds, or are divided into different lots, the sender or the carrier shall have the right to require a separate consignment note to be made out for each vehicle used, or for each kind or lot of goods.

The sender shall be responsible for all expenses, loss, and damage sustained by the carrier by reason of the inaccuracy or inadequacy of the information specified in rule 986; and any other particulars or instructions given by him to enable the consignment note to be made out or for the purpose of their being entered therein.

On taking over the goods, the carrier shall check the accuracy of the statements in the consignment note as to the number of packages and their marks and numbers, and the apparent condition of the goods and their packaging, it said.

The rules disclosed that the sender shall be entitled to require the carrier to check the gross weight of the goods or their quantity otherwise expressed. He may also require the contents of the packages to be checked. The carrier shall be entitled to claim the cost of such checking. The result of the checks shall be entered in the consignment note.

For the purposes of the Customs or other formalities which have to be completed before delivery of the goods, the sender shall attach the necessary documents to the consignment note or place them at the disposal of the carrier and shall furnish him with all the information which he requires, the rules stated.

The sender has the right to dispose of the goods, in particular by asking the carrier to stop the goods in transit, to change the place at which delivery is to take place, or to deliver the goods to a consignee other than the consignee indicated in the consignment note.

After the arrival of the goods at the place designated for delivery, the consignee shall be entitled to require the carrier to deliver to him, against a receipt, the second copy of the consignment note and the goods. If the loss of the goods is established or if the goods have not arrived after the expiry of the period provided for in Rule 998, the consignee shall be entitled to enforce in his own name against the carrier any rights arising from the contract of carriage.

Where the goods are carried through part of the journey by sea, rail inland waterways, or air, and, except where applicable, the goods are not unloaded from the vehicle, these rules shall apply to the whole of the carriage, rules added.

Source: Pro Pakistani