CMR (road)
Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (Geneva, 1956), as amended by the 1978 Protocol
When it applies
Any road carriage for reward where the place of taking over and the place of delivery are in two different countries and at least one is a contracting state. It applies automatically — the parties cannot contract out of it.
Limit
Article 23(3)8.33 SDR per kilogram of gross weight short. Purely weight-based: there is no per-package alternative and no reference to value.
Notice of loss
Article 30Reservations to the carrier at the time of delivery where the loss is apparent; within seven days of delivery, Sundays and public holidays excluded, where it is not.
Time bar
Article 32One year. Three years where the loss was caused by wilful misconduct, or by default treated as equivalent to wilful misconduct under the law of the court seised.
When the limit is lost
Wilful misconduct, or a default considered equivalent to wilful misconduct by the court hearing the case — Article 29. A declared value under Article 24, or a declared special interest in delivery under Article 26, also displaces the cap, for a surcharge.
What the cap pays on a sample consignment
Applying the published limit to a sample consignment of 1,000 kg gross, 10 packages, invoice value US$120,000. The consignment is an illustration chosen so the arithmetic is checkable — it is not an average, a typical shipment or a measurement.
No conversion between SDR and any currency is shown. The International Monetary Fund revalues the SDR every business day, so a converted figure printed on a page is wrong by the time it is read.
What this means for cover
The clearest illustration of the whole problem. Light, valuable cargo recovers almost nothing: the cap follows the weight of what was lost, not its price.
Other road regimes
Sources
This page summarises the instruments above. It is not the wording, and it is not legal advice. Where a summary conflicts with a convention text, a policy wording or a certificate, that document governs.
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