3. The transport document shall be prima facie evidence, save proof to the contrary, of the conclusion and content of the contract of carriage and of the taking over of the goods by the carrier. In particular, it shall provide a basis for the presumption that the goods have been taken over for carriage as they are described in the transport document.
4. When the transport document is a bill of lading, it alone shall determine the relations between the carrier and the consignee. The conditions of the contract of carriage shall continue to determine the relations between carrier and shipper.
5. The transport document, in addition to its denomination, contains the following particulars:
(a) the name, domicile, registered office or place of residence of the carrier and of the shipper;
(b) the consignee of the goods;
(c) the name or number of the vessel, where the goods have been taken on board, or particulars in the transport document stating that the goods have been taken over by the carrier but not yet loaded on the vessel;
(d) the port of loading or the place where the goods were taken over and the port of discharge or the place of delivery;
(e) the usual name of the type of goods and their method of packaging and, for dangerous or polluting goods, their name according to the requirements in force or, if there is no such name, their general name;
(f) the dimensions, number or weight as well as the identification marks of the goods taken on board or taken over for the purpose of carriage;
(g) the statement, if applicable, that the goods shall or may be carried on deck or on board open vessels;
(h) the agreed provisions concerning freight;
(i) in the case of a consignment note, the specification as to whether it is an original or a copy; in the case of a bill of lading, the number of originals;
(j) the place and date of issue. The legal character of a transport document in the sense of article 1, paragraph 6, of this Convention is not affected by the absence of one or more of the particulars referred to in this paragraph.
Article 12
Reservations in transport documents
1. The carrier is entitled to include in the transport document reservations concerning:
(a) The dimensions, number or weight of the goods, if he has grounds to suspect that the particulars supplied by the shipper are inaccurate or if he had no reasonable means of checking such particulars, especially because the goods have not been counted, measured or weighed in his presence or because, without explicit agreement, the dimensions or weights have been determined by draught measurement;
(b) Identification marks which are not clearly and durably affixed on the goods themselves or, if the goods are packed, on the receptacles or packagings;
(c) The apparent condition of the goods.
2. If the carrier fails to note the apparent condition of the goods or does not enter reservations in that respect, he is deemed to have noted in the transport document that the goods were in apparent good condition.
3. If, in accordance with the particulars set out in the transport document, the goods are placed in a container or in the holds of the vessel and sealed by other persons than the carrier, his servants or his agents, and if neither the container nor the seals are damaged or broken when they reach the port of discharge or the place of delivery, it shall be presumed that the loss or damage to the goods did not occur during carriage.
Article 13
Bill of lading
1. The originals of a bill of lading shall be documents of title issued in the name of the consignee, to order or to bearer.
2. At the place of destination, the goods shall be delivered only in exchange for the original of the bill of lading submitted initially; thereafter, further delivery cannot be claimed against other originals.
3. When the goods are taken over by the carrier, handing over the bill of lading to a person entitled thereby to receive the goods has the same effects as the handing over of the goods as far as the acquisition of rights to the goods is concerned.
4. If the bill of lading has been transferred to a third party, including the consignee, who has acted in good faith in reliance on the description of the goods therein, proof to the contrary of the presumption set out in article 11, paragraph 3, and article 12, paragraph 2, shall not be admissible.
Chapter IV
RIGHT TO DISPOSE OF THE GOODS
Article 14
Holder of the right of disposal
1. The shipper shall be authorized to dispose of the goods; in particular, he may require the carrier to discontinue the carriage of the goods, to change the place of delivery or to deliver the goods to a consignee other than the consignee indicated in the transport document.
2. The shipper’s right of disposal shall cease to exist once the consignee, following the arrival of the goods at the scheduled place of delivery, has requested delivery of the goods and,
(a) where carriage is under a consignment note, once the original has been handed over to the consignee;
(b) where carriage is under a bill of lading, once the shipper has relinquished all the originals in his possession by handing them over to another person.
3. By an appropriate entry in the consignment note, the shipper may, when the consignment note is issued, waive his right of disposal to the consignee.
Article 15
Conditions for the exercise of the right of disposal
The shipper or, in the case of article 14, paragraphs 2 and 3, the consignee, must, if he wishes to exercise his right of disposal:
(a) where a bill of lading is used, submit all originals prior to the arrival of the goods at the scheduled place of delivery;
(b) where a transport document other than a bill of lading is used, submit this document, which shall include the new instructions given to the carrier;
(c) compensate the carrier for all costs and damage incurred in carrying out instructions;
(d) pay all the agreed freight in the event of the discharge of the goods before arrival at the scheduled place of delivery, unless the contract of carriage provides otherwise.
Chapter V
LIABILITY OF THE CARRIER
Article 16
Liability for loss
1. The carrier shall be liable for loss resulting from loss or damage to the goods causedbetween the time when he took them over for carriage and the time of their delivery, or resulting from delay in delivery, unless he can show that the loss was due to circumstances which a diligent carrier could not have prevented and the consequences of which he could not have averted.
2. The carrier’s liability for loss resulting from loss or damage to the goods caused during the time before the goods are loaded on the vessel or the time after they have been discharged from the vessel shall be governed by the law of the State applicable to the contract of carriage.
Article 17
Servants and agents
1. The carrier shall be responsible for the acts and omissions of his servants and agents of whose services he makes use during the performance of the contract of carriage, when such persons are acting within the scope of their employment, as if such acts or omissions were his own.
2. When the carriage is performed by an actual carrier in accordance with article 4, the carrier is also responsible for the acts and omissions of the actual carrier and of the servants and agents of the actual carrier acting within the scope of their employment.
3. If an action is brought against the servants and agents of the carrier or the actual carrier, such persons, if they prove that they acted within the scope of their employment, are entitled to avail themselves of the exonerations and limits of liability which the carrier or the actual carrier is entitled to invoke under this Convention.
4. A pilot designated by an authority and who cannot be freely selected shall not be considered to be a servant or agent within the meaning of paragraph 1.
Article 18
Special exonerations from liability
1. The carrier and the actual carrier shall be exonerated from their liability when the loss, damage or delay are the result of one of the circumstances or risks listed below:
(a) acts or omissions of the shipper, the consignee or the person entitled to dispose of the goods;
(b) handling, loading, stowage or discharge of the goods by the shipper, the consignee or third parties acting on behalf of the shipper or the consignee;
(c) carriage of the goods on deck or in open vessels, where such carriage has been agreed with the shipper or is in accordance with the practice of the particular trade, or if it is required by the regulations in force;
(d) nature of the goods which exposes them to total or partial loss or damage, especially through breakage, rust, decay, desiccation, leakage, normal wastage (in volume or weight), or the action of vermin or rodents;
(e) lack of or defective condition of packaging in the case of goods which, by their nature, are exposed to loss or damage when not packed or when the packaging is defective;
(f) insufficiency or inadequacy of marks identifying the goods;
(g) rescue or salvage operations or attempted rescue or salvage operations on inland waterways;
(h) carriage of live animals, unless the carrier has not taken the measures or observed the instructions agreed upon in the contract of carriage.
2. When, in the circumstances of the case, damage could be attributed to one or more of the circumstances or risks listed in paragraph 1 of the present article, it is presumed to have been caused by such a circumstance or risk. This presumption does not apply if the injured party proves that the loss suffered does not result, or does not result exclusively, from one of the circumstances or risks listed in paragraph 1 of this article.
Article 19
Calculation of compensation
1. Where the carrier is liable for total loss of goods, the compensation payable by him shall be equal to the value of the goods at the place and on the day of delivery according to the contract of carriage. Delivery to a person other than the person entitled is deemed to be a loss.
2. In the event of partial loss or damage to goods, the carrier shall be liable only to the extent of the loss in value.
3. The value of the goods shall be fixed according to the commodity exchange price or, if there is no such price, according to their market price or, if there is no commodity exchange price or market price, by reference to the normal value of goods of the same kind and quality at the place of delivery.
4. In respect of goods which by reason of their nature are exposed to wastage during carriage, the carrier shall be held liable, whatever the length of the carriage, only for that part of the wastage which exceeds normal wastage (in volume or weight) as determined by the parties to the contract of carriage or, if not, by the regulations or established practice at the place of destination.
5. The provisions of this article shall not affect the carrier’s right concerning the freight as provided by the contract of carriage or, in the absence of special agreements in this regard, by the applicable national regulations or practices.
Article 20
Maximum limits of liability
1. Subject to article 21 and paragraph 4 of the present article, and regardless of the actionbrought against him, the carrier shall under no circumstances be liable for amounts exceeding 666.67 units of account per package or other shipping unit, or 2 units of account per kilogram of weight, specified in the transport document, of the goods lost or damaged, whichever is the higher. If the package or other shipping unit is a container and if there is no mention in the transport document of any package or shipping unit consolidated in the container, the amount of 666.67 units of account shall be replaced by the amount of 1500 units of account for the container without the goods it contains and, in addition, the amount of 25.000 units of account for the goods which are in the container.
2. Where a container, pallet or similar article of transport is used to consolidate goods, the packages or other shipping units enumerated in the transport document as packed in or on such article of transport are deemed packages or shipping units. Except as aforesaid, the goods in or on such article of transport are deemed one shipping unit. In cases where the article of transport itself has been lost or damaged, that article of transport, if not owned or otherwise supplied by the carrier, is considered one separate shipping unit.
3. In the event of loss due to delay in delivery, the carrier’s liability shall not exceed the amount of the freight. However, the aggregate liability under paragraph 1 and the first sentence of the present paragraph shall not exceed the limitation which would be established under paragraph 1 for total loss of the goods with respect to which such liability was incurred.
4. The maximum limits of liability mentioned in paragraph 1 do not apply:
(a) where the nature and higher value of the goods or articles of transport have been expressly specified in the transport document and the carrier has not refuted those specifications, or
(b) where the parties have expressly agreed to higher maximum limits of liability.
5. The aggregate of the amounts of compensation recoverable from the carrier, the actual carrier and their servants and agents for the same loss shall not exceed overall the limits of liability provided for in this article.
Article 21
Loss of right to limit liability
1. The carrier or the actual carrier is not entitled to the exonerations and limits of liability provided for in this Convention or in the contract of carriage if it is proved that he himself caused the damage by an act or omission, either with the intent to cause such damage, or recklessly and with the knowledge that such damage would probably result.
2. Similarly, the servants and agents acting on behalf of the carrier or the actual carrier are not entitled to the exonerations and limits of liability provided for in this Convention or in the contract of carriage, if it is proved that they caused the damage in the manner described in paragraph 1.
Article 22
Application of the exonerations and limits of liability
The exonerations and limits of liability provided for in this Convention or in the contract of carriage apply in any action in respect of loss or damage to or delay in delivery of the goods covered by the contract of carriage, whether the action is founded in contract, in tort or on some other legal ground.
Chapter VI
CLAIMS PERIOD
Article 23
Notice of damage
1. The acceptance without reservation of the goods by the consignee is prima facie evidence of the delivery by the carrier of the goods in the same condition and quantity as when they were handed over to him for carriage.
2. The carrier and the consignee may require an inspection of the condition and quantity of the goods on delivery in the presence of the two parties.
3. Where the loss or damage to the goods is apparent, any reservation on the part of the consignee must be formulated in writing specifying the general nature of the damage, no later than the time of delivery, unless the consignee and the carrier have jointly checked the condition of the goods.
4. Where the loss or damage to the goods is not apparent, any reservation on the part of the consignee must be notified in writing specifying the general nature of the damage, no later than 7 consecutive days from the time of delivery; in such case, the injured party shall show that the damage was caused while the goods were in the charge of the carrier.