Информационный бюллетень содержит аналитические материалы по вопросам транспорта и логистики, а именно:
– Европейские суды признают, что по спорам из отношений, урегулированных Конвенцией КДПГ/ CMR, возможны маневры с выбором судебного форума – авторы John Flaherty, Partner, Tom Gorrard-Smith, Associate;
– Налоги и сборы при импорте товаров в Соединенное Королевство: важно правильно понимать – авторы Ray Smith, Partner, Chris Waddington, Associate;
– Ответственность перевозчика и транспортного экспедитора в России – автор Maire Ni Aodha, Partner;
– Мультимодальные перевозки в Индии – автор Harsh Pratap, Advocate, Clasis Law;
– Иностранные инвестиции производят революцию в инфраструктуре Западной Африки – автор John Flaherty, Partner, Tom Gorrard-Smith, Associate;
– Кликни и забери – авторы Nick Purnell, Partner, Isabel Ost, Associate;
– Можете ли вы обеспечить соблюдение трудовых прав ваших работников по всему миру на уровне английских стандартов? – автор Chris Holme, Partner;
– Новые правила конкуренции Соединенного Королевства – автор John Milligan, Partner.
Наиболее актуальным из этих материалов представляется статья “Ответственность перевозчика и транспортного экспедитора в России”, в которой исследуются нормы российского национального права, а также нормы международных транспортных конвенций, стороной которых является Российская Федерация, регулирующие ответственность перевозчиков груза и экспедиторов перед их клиентурой в российских судах, в частности, автор рассматривает вопрос об ограничении ответственности.
Carrier and forwarder liability in Russia
Maire Ni Aodha, Partner
In relation to international carriage, Russia is a party to various international transport conventions (Hague Visby/Warsaw/CMR) and where any of those conventions apply, the Russian courts will permit the defences available and apply the limitation provisions under those conventions.
As for domestic carriage, whether it be by air, inland waterways, rail or road, in general the carrier’s/forwarder’s
defence under the applicable legislation (i.e. Aviation Code, Rail Charter, Civil Code, Transport Charter and Law
on Forwarding Activities, respectively), is similar to that in Article 17 of the CMR Convention, which provides,
inter-alia that:
Article 17 of CMR
The carrier shall, however, be relieved of liability if the loss, damage or delay was caused … through circumstances
which the carrier could not avoid and the consequences of which he was unable to prevent.
Thus, for example, Article 34.5 of Law on Transport Charter:
The Carrier shall be liable … unless the carrier proves that loss, short delivery or spoilage of cargo were caused
by circumstances which the carrier could not avoid or the consequences of which he was unable to prevent;
And Article 7.1 of Law on Forwarding Activities:
The forwarding agent is liable … unless the forwarding agent proves that loss, short delivery or spoilage of cargo
were caused by circumstances which the forwarding agent could not avoid and the consequences of which he was
unable to prevent.
Similar provisions can be found in the Aviation Code and Rail Charter.
In determining a carrier’s/forwarder’s liability under the various transport legislation, the Russian courts have
applied the provisions of Article 401.3 of the Civil Code, which provides inter-alia that:
Unless otherwise stipulated by law or by contract, a person, who has failed to discharge, or has discharged
in an improper way, an obligation in the conduct of entrepreneurial activity shall be liable, unless he proves
that proper performance is impossible as the result of force-majeure, i.e., extraordinary circumstances
unavoidable in the given situation.
As a result Russian courts have ruled that carriers and forwarders can only avoid liability for loss or damage if
they can prove that the loss/damage and the consequences of the loss/damage occurred/could not be avoided, was as a result of circumstances of force-majeure. This application of the law has been upheld by the Russian Higher Arbitrazh Court. Thus, even in cases where the carrier’s driver is not at fault for a road accident (for example where a third party vehicle has crossed the centre line into oncoming traffic and the carrying vehicle could not avoid a collision), the Russian courts have ruled that road traffic accidents are a usual incident of the “entrepreneurial activity” of a professional carrier, and therefore cannot be considered a force-majeure event.
As to excluding or limiting liability, the applicable legislation invariably provides that any agreement to
exclude or reduce liability below that specified by law is null and void.
In general the applicable legislation provides that the compensation payable by a carrier/forwarder for loss or
damage is, for cargo loss, the actual cost, and for damaged cargo, the depreciation in the actual cost. The Russian
courts invariably accept the commercial invoice value as the actual cost of the cargo.
A consequence of the liability of carriers/forwarders under the law is that liability insurance is prohibitively expensive with the result that quite a lot of carriers/forwarders do not have cargo insurance and claimants have been left holding a court ruling for the full value of their claim but little prospect of actually recovering their losses.
Источник: http://www.clydeco.com/uploads/Files/CC005114_Transport_and_logistics_singles_09.07.14.pdf
