The CMR Convention (the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, signed in Geneva on 19 May 1956) is the treaty that decides the paperwork and the liability rules for most cross-border truck freight in Europe and beyond. It applies by law, not by choice, to a contract to carry goods by road for reward where the place of taking over and the place of delivery are in two different countries and at least one of them is a contracting country. The headline numbers: the carrier is liable from taking over to delivery, compensation for lost or damaged goods is capped at 8.33 SDR per kilogram of gross weight short, compensation for delay is capped at the carriage charge, and most claims are time-barred after one year. It sits alongside, not instead of, the liability limits that apply in other modes.
When does CMR apply?
Article 1 of the Convention applies it to "every contract for the carriage of goods by road in vehicles for reward" when the place of taking over the goods and the place designated for delivery, as written in the contract, are in two different countries and at least one is a contracting country. The nationality and residence of the parties do not matter. A Turkish haulier moving cargo from Germany to Poland is inside CMR; so is a Polish haulier moving it from Poland to a country that has not joined, because Poland has.
The UN Treaty Collection listed 58 parties to the Convention when checked on 27 October 2026. It entered into force on 2 July 1961. Parties are concentrated in Europe, but they also include countries in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East, so a road leg to or from those regions can be a CMR carriage too. Check the current list before relying on it for a specific lane.
Three details catch people out:
- The vehicle can be on a ship or train. Under Article 2, if the loaded truck is carried over part of the journey by sea, rail, inland waterway or air and the goods are not unloaded from it, CMR still applies to the whole carriage. An exception applies where the loss is proved to come from an event that could only have occurred during the other mode (see multimodal planning).
- Some carriage is excluded. Article 1(4) excludes carriage under an international postal convention, funeral consignments and furniture removals.
- The parties cannot contract out. Article 41 makes void any stipulation that directly or indirectly derogates from the Convention, including a clause giving the carrier the benefit of the cargo owner's insurance.
What is the CMR consignment note?
The CMR note is the transport document for the road contract. Article 4 says the contract "shall be confirmed by the making out of a consignment note", and adds that the absence, irregularity or loss of the note does not affect the existence or validity of the contract, which stays subject to CMR. So a missing note does not take the shipment outside the Convention, but it does leave the parties without the evidence the note provides.
What must it contain?
Article 6(1) lists the mandatory particulars:
The mandatory list includes: the date and place of making out; the names and addresses of sender, carrier and consignee; the place and date of taking over and the place designated for delivery; the common description of the goods and packing (and the recognised description of dangerous goods); the number of packages, marks and numbers, and the gross weight or quantity; the charges relating to the carriage; the instructions for customs and other formalities; and a statement that the carriage is subject, notwithstanding any clause to the contrary, to the Convention.
Article 6(2) adds particulars to include where applicable: a ban on trans-shipment, charges the sender will pay, cash on delivery, a declared value, the sender's insurance instructions, an agreed time limit and a list of documents handed to the carrier. Leaving out the CMR statement is not harmless: under Article 7(3) the carrier is liable for the expenses, loss and damage that omission causes the person entitled to dispose of the goods.
Copies, signatures and who fills it in
Article 5 requires three originals signed by the sender and the carrier: the first goes to the sender, the second travels with the goods and the third stays with the carrier. Either party can require a separate note per vehicle, per kind of goods or per lot. In practice a carrier or forwarder often types the note at the sender's request, but under Article 7(2) the carrier is then presumed to have done so on the sender's behalf, and the sender is responsible under Article 7(1) for expenses, loss and damage caused by inaccurate or inadequate particulars, including the goods description, the weight and the customs instructions.
Reservations at loading
On taking over the goods, Article 8 requires the carrier to check the number of packages, their marks and numbers, and the apparent condition of goods and packaging, and to write reservations with reasons on the note where it cannot reasonably check or sees damage. Under Article 9 the note is prima facie evidence of the contract, its terms and receipt of the goods, and with no reservation the goods and packaging are presumed to have looked in good condition.
It is not a document of title
Unlike an ocean bill of lading, the CMR note is not negotiable and does not by itself represent ownership of the goods. Article 1(5) goes as far as saying the contracting parties may not vary the Convention by special agreement, except for frontier traffic or to allow, inside one country only, notes representing a title to the goods. What the note does give is control: under Article 12 the sender may redirect or stop the goods, but must produce the first copy with the new instructions on it, and the right passes to the consignee when the second copy is handed over or the consignee exercises its rights under Article 13. For the air equivalent, see how an air waybill works.
Is there an electronic CMR (e-CMR)?
Yes. The Additional Protocol to the CMR concerning the Electronic Consignment Note was adopted in Geneva on 20 February 2008 and entered into force on 5 June 2011. As of 27 October 2026, the UN Treaty Collection lists 42 parties, including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom, and Belgium listed as a signatory that has not yet ratified. Only states that are party to CMR itself can join.
The Protocol is designed to give an electronic note the same legal footing as the paper one, but the parties must still agree to use it, and the system used must meet the Protocol's conditions. The industry body IRU, for example, publishes a standard contract for parties who want to use e-CMR. Whether e-CMR can be used on a given lane depends on both ends and any transit countries being able to accept it in practice, so keep a paper fallback until your counterparties and authorities have confirmed they accept the electronic note.
How is the carrier's liability worked out?
When liability starts and ends
Article 17(1): the carrier is liable for total or partial loss of the goods and damage "occurring between the time when he takes over the goods and the time of delivery", and for delay in delivery. Article 3 makes the carrier responsible for the acts and omissions of its agents, servants and any other persons whose services it uses to perform the carriage, as if they were its own. A subcontracted haulier's driver is therefore the carrier's problem.
What relieves the carrier
The carrier is relieved if the loss, damage or delay was caused by the claimant's wrongful act or neglect, by the claimant's instructions (not caused by the carrier's fault), by inherent vice of the goods, or by circumstances the carrier could not avoid and whose consequences it could not prevent (Article 17(2)). The carrier carries the burden of proving that cause (Article 18(1)). A defective vehicle is not an excuse (Article 17(3)).
Article 17(4) adds listed special risks: open unsheeted vehicles (only if expressly agreed and written on the note), lack of or defective packing, handling or loading by the sender or consignee, the nature of the goods, insufficient marks or numbers, and livestock. If loss or damage arises from one of them the carrier is relieved to that extent, but the claimant may prove it was not the cause, and for temperature-controlled vehicles the carrier must prove it took all required steps before relying on the nature-of-goods defence (Article 18).
What is the CMR liability limit?
For loss, Article 23 sets compensation by the value of the goods at the place and time they were accepted for carriage, fixed by commodity exchange price, current market price, or normal value in that order. That is then capped. The 1956 text used a gold franc figure (25 francs per kilogram). The 1978 Protocol (in force since 28 December 1980) replaced it: compensation "shall not exceed 8.33 units of account per kilogram of gross weight short", where the unit of account is the IMF's Special Drawing Right (SDR), converted into the currency of the court's state at the date of judgment or a date the parties agree.
A worked example. A 10,000 kg consignment arrives with 1,000 kg of the goods destroyed. The cap is 1,000 x 8.33 = 8,330 SDR, however much those goods were worth. If the goods were worth less than that, the lower value is paid. The carriage charge, customs duties and other transport charges are then refunded in full for a total loss and in proportion for a partial loss (Article 23(4)). The SDR rate moves daily, so look up the IMF rate for the date that applies rather than quoting a fixed currency figure. A few countries that are not IMF members can declare a fallback unit under the Protocol, so check which text the court's state applies.
Three further rules:
- Delay (Article 23(5)): if the claimant proves damage resulted, compensation cannot exceed the carriage charges. Delay means missing an agreed time limit, or, absent one, taking longer than a diligent carrier reasonably would (Article 19). Goods not delivered within 30 days after the agreed time limit, or 60 days after taking over if none was agreed, can be treated as lost (Article 20).
- Higher cover is possible, if declared. The sender may declare a value on the note against an agreed surcharge, which replaces the cap (Article 24), or declare a special interest in delivery to claim proven additional loss (Article 26). Neither is automatic; it must be written on the note and priced with the carrier.
- Interest at 5 per cent a year runs on compensation from the written claim or, failing one, from the start of proceedings (Article 27).
When the limit does not apply
Article 29: the carrier loses the benefit of the exclusions, the limits and the burden-of-proof rules if the damage was caused by its wilful misconduct, or by "such default on his part as, in accordance with the law of the court or tribunal seized of the case, is considered as equivalent to wilful misconduct". The same applies to the carrier's agents and servants and anyone else used for the carriage, acting within the scope of their employment. What counts as equivalent default varies by national law (gross negligence in some courts), so this is the point where national legal advice matters most.
Claim deadlines and limitation periods
| Situation | What you must do | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Apparent loss or damage | Check with the carrier and send general reservations no later than delivery | 30(1) |
| Loss or damage not apparent | Written reservations within 7 days of delivery, Sundays and public holidays excluded | 30(1) |
| Delay | Written reservation within 21 days from when the goods were placed at the consignee's disposal; otherwise no compensation for delay | 30(3) |
| Time limit to sue (partial loss, damage, delay) | 1 year from delivery | 32(1)(a) |
| Time limit to sue (total loss) | 1 year from the 30th day after the agreed time limit, or the 60th day from taking over if none | 32(1)(b) |
| Wilful misconduct or equivalent default | 3 years instead of 1 | 32(1) |
Taking delivery without duly checking or reserving does not extinguish the claim, but it is prima facie evidence that the consignee got the goods in the condition described in the note, which reverses the burden onto you. A written claim suspends the limitation period until the carrier rejects it in writing and returns the documents, and further claims on the same subject do not suspend it again (Article 32(2)). Do not rely on a long negotiation to protect the clock.
Who can sue, and where?
The sender is the party to the contract. After arrival the consignee may require delivery of the second copy of the note and the goods, and where loss is established or the goods have not arrived within the period in Article 19, it can enforce the contract's rights in its own name against the carrier (Article 13(1)). The consignee must pay the charges shown on the note, and where those charges are disputed the carrier need not deliver unless the consignee furnishes security.
For jurisdiction, Article 31 allows an action in a court of a contracting country chosen by agreement, or where the defendant is resident or has its principal place of business or the branch that made the contract, or where the goods were taken over or are to be delivered. Where successive road carriers perform one contract, each is responsible for the whole operation, and proceedings can be brought only against the first, the last or the carrier performing the part where the event happened (Articles 34 and 36).
How CMR works when a forwarder is involved
Whether CMR liability falls on a forwarder depends on what role it took. A forwarder that merely arranges carriage as the shipper's agent is generally not a CMR carrier, and its liability is decided by its own contract and national law. A forwarder that contracts in its own name to move the goods by road, even if it subcontracts every kilometre, is generally treated as the contracting carrier. In that case it owes the cargo owner CMR liability for the whole journey, including for the acts of its subcontracted truckers (Article 3), and then looks to the actual hauliers for recovery. Courts differ on borderline cases, so the quote, the booking terms and what is typed in the carrier box of the CMR note should all say the same thing.
Two practical points. First, the subcontractor who drives the load typically signs the note as successive carrier, and, depending on the facts and national case law, the cargo owner may be able to sue it directly under Articles 34 and 36. Second, forwarders usually trade on standard conditions, but under Article 41 those cannot reduce the carrier's CMR liability for a CMR carriage; they may govern the forwarder's other services. A forwarder's own liability cover is covered in forwarder insurance explained.
Common misconceptions
- "CMR is insurance." It is not. It sets who is liable and up to what limit, and the cap is low relative to the value of many cargoes. A cargo policy bought by the owner is separate: it can pay for loss without anyone proving the carrier was at fault (subject to its terms and exclusions), and the insurer then typically pursues the carrier. See cargo insurance explained, what cargo insurance does not cover and how much to buy.
- "8.33 SDR is per kilogram of the shipment." It is per kilogram of gross weight short, meaning the weight of what was lost or damaged, not the whole load. Gross weight includes packaging.
- "A missing CMR note means CMR doesn't apply." Under Article 4 it still applies. The note is evidence, not the source of the contract.
- "A TIR carnet replaces the CMR note." No. The TIR carnet is a customs transit guarantee and the CMR note is the contract of carriage; a TIR road trip typically travels with both. See the TIR carnet guide.
What to do next
- Confirm that the route is a CMR carriage (two countries, at least one contracting) and who the contracting carrier is on your paperwork, including in the carrier box of the note.
- Check the note carries every Article 6 item, including the CMR clause, the gross weight, and customs instructions, and keep your own copy of the first original.
- Decide whether the SDR cap is enough for the cargo value. If not, declare a value on the note and pay the surcharge, or buy cargo insurance separately.
- Diarise the deadlines at delivery: reservations at delivery or within 7 days, delay notice within 21 days, and a one-year limit that starts counting from delivery.
If you need a road carrier or forwarder for a cross-border lane, more than 29,300 logistics companies are searchable by country and service in the CargoLinked directory, and the public requests board lists freight that shippers have posted for forwarders to quote on directly. Whichever you use, ask in writing who the contracting carrier will be and what limit applies.
This article is general information, not legal or insurance advice. Treaty status, national implementing law and court interpretation differ by country and change over time. Confirm the position for your shipment with the relevant authority, your insurer or a qualified transport lawyer.
