Astana, 11 November. The Kurultai passed in two readings a law ratifying the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) and ratified the Additional Protocol to it on the electronic consignment note, the Ministry of Transport said.
The convention was adopted in Geneva on 19 May 1956. It sets uniform rules for concluding, performing and terminating a contract of international carriage of goods by road and defines the carrier's liability for non-performance or improper performance of the contract. According to the ministry, 58 countries are now parties to the CMR. Kazakhstan's application of the convention is needed, it said, to unify the working conditions of domestic and foreign carriers and to determine the carrier's liability and the time limits for claims and notices. Ratification, according to the conclusion on the bill, will raise the level of cooperation with the convention's parties in economic matters.
The Additional Protocol was adopted in Geneva on 20 February 2008 and allows the consignment note to be issued in electronic form using methods of electronic registration and data processing. According to the ministry, the electronic consignment note will shorten the duration and labour intensity of control procedures, reduce the cost of printing, processing and archiving consignment notes and raise the competitiveness of road transport companies. Ratification, the announcement says, will speed up the digitalisation of international road transport and raise the transit potential of the emerging Eurasian transport corridors. Joining the protocol is needed, as the Kurultai noted, to unify the working conditions of domestic and foreign carriers.
The announcements do not give the date when the convention and protocol take effect for Kazakhstan or the time frame for carriers to switch to the electronic consignment note.
What it means: Kazakhstan joins an international scheme under which the contract of carriage of goods by road and the carrier's liability are determined in the same way for parties from different countries, and the paper consignment note that the driver carries with the cargo can be replaced by an electronic one.
Who benefits: According to the Ministry of Transport, Kazakh and foreign carriers, who get uniform contract terms and less paperwork, as well as transit through Kazakhstan.
Background: The abbreviation CMR, under which the convention is known in international practice, comes from its French title; according to a Wikipedia reference, 58 states had ratified it by January 2022. A consignment note is a document that accompanies the cargo and confirms the contract of carriage. It was reported earlier that Kazakhstan and Belarus will start testing electronic permits for freight transport in 2027, Kazakhstan Today wrote.
