(International way bill, consignment note, CMR – Convention relative au contrat de transport international de Marchandises par route)
CMR is used in the International truck-car freight transport and at the same time it is a transport agreement between sender and carrier, which both sign. Sender is responsible for the information accuracy in transport document. Nowadays in Finland actual senders rarely sign international way bill, but carrier does on the basis of the information received from client and on behalf of clients. Transport agreement comes into affect based on offer or order. Sender, however, is obliged to provide shipping company with correct and appropriate information regarding goods.
CMR should be made at least in triple: for sender, recipient and carrier. In addition, additional copies are used for transport, customs, etc. purposes. If sender wishes to release goods to sender on cash on delivery, it should be clearly indicated in the consignment note. COD (Cash On Delivery) is not enough for that COD, but the amount of supervised COD should be shown in CMR. Sender should also specify to carrier in CMR documents such as e.g. commercial invoices, certificates of origin, etc. accompanying cargo.
A significant part of our country’s foreign trade carried partly by sea and often by road, without driver carrying documents during the sea trip, most of the major transport companies no longer carry consignment notes or any other transport documents in e.g. ship mail, but have them in electronic form in information systems from which they are then printed for the driver before road transport part begins. The exception are possible documentation of hazardous goods, which have to be delivered to maritime transport company.