The CMR consignment note, box by box

Every international road haulage contract for reward is governed by the same rules: those of the CMR Convention, signed in Geneva in 1956. The document that travels with the goods is called the CMR consignment note, or simply the CMR.

The CMR proves that there is a contract of carriage and records what was loaded, in what condition and for whom. If a problem comes up, this is where everyone starts.

Who fills it in, and how many copies

The Convention requires the consignment note to be made out in three original copies, signed by the sender and by the carrier:

1. the first stays with the sender;
2. the second travels with the goods and goes to the consignee;
3. the third stays with the carrier.

In practice, the forms usually come in sets of four or five, so that every party keeps a copy. The sender fills in the details of the goods, and the driver fills in the carrier’s details and, where necessary, any reservations.

The boxes, one by one

Click or tap a box to see what goes in it.

Box 18: the driver’s reservations

At loading, the driver checks what they can: the number of packages, the condition of the packaging, how the goods are stowed. If something isn’t right, they write it in box 18.

If nothing is written there, the Convention presumes, unless the contrary is proved, that the goods and their packaging were in apparent good condition at loading and that the number of packages matched the CMR. That’s why a properly completed box 18 protects both the carrier and the sender: it shows exactly what was loaded.

Box 24: the signature on delivery

The consignee signs box 24 on receiving the goods. If they see damage or packages are missing, they note it on the CMR there and then, before signing.

For damage that isn’t apparent on delivery, the consignee has 7 days (Sundays and public holidays excepted) to send the carrier written reservations. For delay, the deadline is 21 days from the date the goods were placed at their disposal.

Limits of the carrier’s liability

The carrier is liable for goods lost or damaged between loading and delivery, but only up to a limit set by the Convention: 8.33 SDR (Special Drawing Rights, a unit of account of the International Monetary Fund) per kilogram of gross weight lost or damaged.

Mistakes we often see

• incomplete addresses, with no postcode or no contact person;
• a missing weight, or one guessed ‘by eye’;
• a CMR signed without checking the number of packages;
• damage noticed on delivery but not written on the CMR;
• the sender’s copy lost after loading.

A properly completed CMR takes a few minutes and saves a lot of arguments later. If anything is unclear, give us a call: our dispatchers filled in plenty of CMRs back when they were drivers.