FORWARDERLAW E-NEWS November 25, 2005

Forwarderlaw announces a new Editor

Forwarderlaw announces the appointment of Veronica Taubas as the National Editor for Argentina. Veronica is well known to the members of ALACAT, the regional grouping of FIATA Ordinary Members in South America. She serves as the legal advisor of AAACI (Argentinean Freight Forwarders Association), and the Director of ALACAT (Latin American Freight Forwarding and Logistics Operators Federation) web site. (www.alacat.org). She is working with the Intermodal Transport Commission which task it is to reform all legislation relating to unimodal and multimodal transport laws in force in Argentina. Hola Vero!

Multimodal Transport Law in Argentina

Transport laws in many South American countries are in most cases over 100 years old. By way of contrast with this ancient regime, Multimodal Transport laws promulgated by Mercosur and the Andean Group are as advanced as any such laws world wide. Unfortunately this initiative has not succeeded. South America is left with multimodal transport laws that don’t apply to the multimodal transport that is taking place, while disputes arising out of multimodal transport are not governed by any multimodal law. In the opinion of Veronica Taubas, this difficulty can only be resolved by first addressing the deficiencies in the applicable unimodal laws.

Read extracts from her commentary by following this link.

Switched Bills of Lading

Many forwarders, particularly in North America, know little about this topic. They will be an excellent introduction to the subject by reviewing this comprehensive article of Vlad Cioarec, Trade Consultant.

Read more by following this link.

Dangerous Goods

The subject of Dangerous Goods should be very much a concern of forwarders these days. Besides the large volume of international and national legislation, common law liabilities for the shipment of dangerous goods could have a serious impact on an unsuspecting forwarder. The subject is extensively covered in the Case Law and Practice Section of the Forwarderlaw Library.

There have been two recent cases decided by North American courts. One, decided by the Federal Court of Canada, dealt with bulk cargos. Still the principles adopted by the Federal Court have equal application to co-loading, container shipments and general cargo.

Read more by following this link.

To emphasize the risks to forwarders, read this article by Stephen Block, reprinted with permission from Marine Digest and Transportation News. These risks can materialize in the most innocent situations. Follow this link.

Can you use Criminal Law to collect a debt?

The General Editor often hears forwarders say: "This customer is a cheat. I want him prosecuted immediately. And, oh yes, that will force him to pay me."

Unfortunately you cannot use the criminal law to collect monies owing. If you do, you are exposed to damages for the misuse of criminal prosecution, and the award could include punitive damages that could be much greater than the amount of the debt.

In the recent case of Bhatia Shipping vs. Alcobex, an English court dealt firmly with the efforts of a shipper in India to use criminal law powers against the multimodal transport operator. Read on.

General

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