The recent signing of the UN Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Rail by China and Germany marks an important step towards achieving efficient rail freight transport in Europe and Asia and beyond. The Netherlands and Togo have also signed the Convention, while many other countries have expressed their interest in doing so. This demonstrates the benefits of the Convention, which allows for a single, simple and understandable legal regime that focuses on the core aspects of rail freight transport, covering the entire transport route from the consignor’s premises to the consignee’s premises, combining two existing systems. Through this unified regime, the Convention avoids multiple systems and their different requirements, which in turn helps to enhance legal certainty, minimize administrative burdens and reduce costs.
Without this unified regime, rail transport has historically been at a disadvantage compared to other modes of transport, as it has been governed by two international regimes, each with its own set of rules on the contract law of freight transport, overseen by the Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) in Western Europe and the Organization for Cooperation between Railways in Eastern Europe and Asia.
The Convention, which was adopted by the UNECE Working Party on Rail Transport in November 2023 and is now open to accession by all UN Member States, closes this gap and allows companies transporting goods by rail to choose internationally standardized rules for the execution of freight contracts.
The signing of the Convention by China, Germany, the Netherlands and Togo is the first step in promoting the entry into force of the Convention, which will eliminate the competitive disadvantages of rail freight transport and contribute to increasing the volume of freight between Europe and Asia by rail.
Furthermore, given that rail freight transport emits 5.7 times less greenhouse gases (GHG) per tkm than road transport, the entry into force of the Convention will strengthen the fight against climate change in the transport sector.