On arrival
Claim deadlines on a road load, and when they start
There is more than one clock. Under the CMR rules, apparent damage is reserved at delivery, damage found later within seven days in writing, and delay within twenty-one days from the goods being placed at the consignee's disposal. Behind all of them sits a limitation period of one year, running from the date of delivery.
The figures
| Apparent loss or damage | Reservation to the carrier at the time of delivery (CMR, article 30.1) |
|---|---|
| Loss or damage not apparent | Reservation in writing within seven days of delivery, Sundays and public holidays excepted (CMR, article 30.1) |
| Delay in delivery | Reservation in writing within twenty-one days from the goods being placed at the consignee's disposal (CMR, article 30.3) |
| Day the count starts | The date of delivery or of placing at disposal is not included in the period (CMR, article 30.4) |
| Limitation period | One year from the date of delivery for partial loss, damage or delay. Three years in case of wilful misconduct (CMR, article 32) |
What it changes on an order
Your deliveries land on a Friday
The short window is counted in days with Sundays and public holidays excepted, so a weekend arrival and a bank holiday change the date the window closes. Work it out on the day, not from memory.
You use a freight forwarder
A reservation is made to the carrier. Telling a forwarder is not automatically telling the party the rules are written about, and who was actually the carrier on a subcontracted leg is worth knowing in advance.
You negotiate through a long claim
A written claim suspends the limitation period until the carrier rejects it in writing and returns the documents, which is why the rejection letter is the one to date carefully.
What this note does not settle
- These are the periods the CMR rules impose in international carriage by road. They are not advice, they say nothing about the merits of any claim, and a domestic movement inside one country runs under that country's own law.
- Deadlines that bind a carrier are not the deadlines in your contract with a seller. Those are separate, and they are whatever the two of you agreed.
- Our own terms of sale, complaint window and payment terms are not agreed. Nothing here describes a commitment on our side.
Source: Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR)
Three clocks, and they start on different events
The thing that catches people out is the assumption that a claim has one deadline. It has several, they run at the same time, and they start from different moments. Visible damage has one moment, and it is the handover itself. Damage you find later has a short written window. Late arrival has its own, longer one, and behind all of them sits a limitation period measured in months rather than days.
Miss the short ones and the dispute does not end, but it changes shape. What is lost is the presumption: the position shifts from the carrier having to explain the state of the goods to you having to prove it. That is a heavy thing to lose over a few days of silence.
Written, and dated, and to the right party
Reservations are made in writing and they are made to the carrier. A telephone call to your sales contact at the packhouse is not a reservation, however clearly you made yourself understood, and however much the person at the other end agreed with you.
Keep the sent copy and keep the date. Counting rules exist for these windows and they are precise about which day you start from, so a file that shows what was sent and when is worth more than a recollection of a conversation. Our own response times and payment terms are not fixed yet, so treat the deadlines here as the ones the carriage rules impose and nothing more.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.