Transport law

A supply chain is a sequence of handovers, and the legal position changes at each one. Goods pass from seller to carrier, carrier to warehouse, warehouse to another carrier, and somewhere in that chain risk transfers, liability caps apply, and a very short period begins in which a complaint must be made or the claim is gone. When a shipment is damaged, the difficulty is usually establishing which leg it happened on.

Transport and logistics law governs carriage, the documents that accompany it and the liability of everyone who touches the goods:

• the rules on the transport document, and on what it proves about condition on receipt;
• the rules on when risk passes between seller, carrier and buyer;
• the rules on a carrier’s liability, and on the limits that apply per shipment or weight;
• the rules on loss, damage and delay, and on what breaks a limitation of liability;
• the rules on notifying a complaint, and on the short periods for doing so;
• the rules on multimodal carriage, and on identifying the leg on which loss occurred;
• the rules on freight forwarders, and on whether one acts as agent or as carrier;
• the rules on storage, warehousing and liens over goods held, and on dangerous, perishable and specially regulated cargo;
• the rules on customs formalities and the responsibility for a declaration.

Our lawyers can support you in all these areas of law.