Legal
“ The Convention creates a new type of cargo document (paper or electronic), which enables cargo carried by road, rail, air, sea, or a combination thereof ...
documents in paper or electronic form and providing greater legal certainty and harmonisation for multimodal transport. Ready to assist FIATA is ready to assist the industry to make use of Negotiable Cargo Documents (NCD) via the FBL and its digital counterpart (eFBL) as soon as the Convention enters into force, and is currently in the process of arranging test transactions and pilot projects with other industry stakeholders. The NCD is a negotiable document of title, which is issued on mutual agreement between the transport operator and the consignor. It can be issued as a standalone document, or by a simple (but conspicuous) annotation on an existing transport document. There are guidelines in the Convention as to how to issue an NCD and what details it should contain. It is important to note that the NCD does NOT affect the liabilities of freight forwarders and transport operators under existing law. The explanatory note to the Convention sets this out explicitly as follows: “The Convention focuses exclusively on the issuance and use of NCD, rather than on the rights and obligations of the parties to the underlying transport contract. This approach ensures that the Convention does not interfere with existing legal regimes governing carrier liability under
alongside these established frameworks.” Freight forwarders and transport operators should, however, be aware of certain obligations arising out of the Convention if they issue NCD: • Delivery may only be demanded against the surrender of the NCD; and • Failure to qualify the particulars provided by the consignor if they are dubious or unverifiable or to note damaged or missing cargo will expose them to liability as they cannot challenge this information against a good-faith third-party holder. Be aware BIFA and TT Club members are thus encouraged to ensure that they are aware of the provisions of the Convention and its implications for their business well in advance of it entering into force. Their staff will ultimately need to be trained on the issuance and use of NCD. Processes, standard trading terms and insurance policies should also be checked to ensure that there are no gaps or changes needed. Further information and details can be found online: United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents (New York, 2025) (the ‘Accra Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents’) | United Nations Commission On International Trade La TT Talk – Adoption of the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents - TT Club
end multimodal transport efficiency. In practice, freight forwarders already use multimodal transport documents, such as the negotiable FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading (FBL), to organise end-to- end transportation along complex supply chains. The new Convention strengthens this practice by recognising negotiable multimodal transport
applicable transport law conventions, but instead complements and operates
Support your local Member group Region Date Venue Northern Ireland Tue 14 Apr Mission to Seafarers, Belfast Avonmouth Tue 21 Apr City of Bristol College, Bristol Gatwick Thu 7 May Venue TBC
BIFA utilises a network of regional representatives around the UK to act as a conduit for the dissemination of information and to seek local Member views on topics of interest. Forthcoming meetings are listed here. All BIFA Members are encouraged to attend their regional meetings, however pre- booking is essential. If there is no event listed in your region see www.bifa.org/events for future dates or contact your local regional representative: London West, the South & the South West – Paul Cunningham
p.cunningham@bifa.org Scotland and the Borders – Jack Rice j.rice@bifa.org Northern England – Andrew Melton a.melton@bifa.org Central England – Steve Murray s.murray@bifa.org Anglia, London East & South East -
Paul Newman paul@pnauk.com Northern Ireland – Shauneen McConville shauneenm@tr- logistics.com BIFA Young Forwarders’ Network FREE networking and information events for younger team members, see www.bifa.org/events
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www.bifa.org
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