COTIF Convention and CIM Uniform Rules (rail transport)
The international regime for rail freight, which presumes the carrier liable for loss, damage and delay and caps its compensation at 17 SDR per kilogram.
The Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail, known as COTIF, and its appendix on contracts for the carriage of goods, the CIM Uniform Rules, govern rail shipments between member states of the Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail. The carrier is liable for total or partial loss, damage and exceeding the transit period, unless it proves a defense such as the fault of the person entitled, inherent vice of the goods or unavoidable circumstances. Compensation for loss is based on the value of the goods, capped at 17 special drawing rights per kilogram of gross mass short, and compensation for delay is capped at four times the carriage charge. The CIM consignment note evidences the contract, and a common CIM/SMGS document facilitates shipments to the networks of the former Soviet area, which fall under a different regime.
The Vilnius Protocol of June 3, 1999, in force since July 1, 2006, overhauled the 1980 COTIF: a 10-ton container lost on a rail journey between France and Germany entitles the claimant to at most 170,000 SDR, even if it is worth more, absent a declaration of value.
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