The modernization of the legal regime for land transport aims to align it with the most advanced legal frameworks of countries in our environment.
The Council of Ministers, upon the proposal of the Ministers of Justice and Transport, has approved the submission to the General Courts of the Draft Law on the land transport of goods, which aims to update and complete the legal regime for the transport of goods by road.
Among the provisions of this future Law, the following deserve highlighting:
- The clause for updating the contract price based on the increase in diesel prices.
- Compensation for the immobilization of road transport of goods.
- Referring late payment of transport prices to the Law of December 29, 2004, which establishes measures to combat late payment in commercial transactions.
These provisions aim to strengthen the bargaining power of the transport sector and their inclusion responds to the commitments of the Ministry of Justice under the Agreement of June 11, 2008, between the General Administration of the State and the Goods Transport Department of the National Road Transport Committee.
Also noteworthy is the regulation of various aspects of current traffic practices, such as electronically issued bills of lading, continuous transport, multimodal transport, as well as the specificity of the moving contract.
Code of Commerce
The future Law will put an end to the current anachronistic situation, still presided over by the 19th-century regulation of the Commercial Code, and with it, the high degree of legal uncertainty that currently exists in this matter, due to the gap between reality and the regulation of the transport contract.
The text of the Draft has been drafted based on the Proposal prepared by a special section of the General Codification Commission, which included representatives from the Ministries of Transport and Justice, as well as specialists in this field.
Regarding its content, the Project substantially adapts Spanish land transport contract law to the model represented by international conventions on the subject, mainly the International Road Transport Convention and the CIM/1999 Uniform Rules, thus following the path previously traced by other European countries. This consideration implies recognition that international transport and purely domestic transport are not so different at the present time, to which the provisions of the Project are aimed.
Since international conventions do not contain a complete regulation of the transport contract, the future Law does not limit itself to incorporating the rules contained in these texts but also presents its own solutions to many of the problems posed by land transport of goods. These responses do not imply a break with the Spanish tradition in the matter, whose solutions are also accepted in a significant number of cases, although their necessary updating is carried out.
Complementary rules
An excessive casuistry that could overwhelm market agents or eliminate the response capacity of regulatory bodies and sector companies has been avoided. This leaves open the possibility, within the framework established by the Law, of elaborating those complementary rules and general conditions that may be necessary to adapt sectoral rules to new realities.
As a general rule, contracting parties are allowed to modify what is established in the rules of this future Law, provided that it is done through individually negotiated agreements or through general conditions that are more beneficial to the adherent and do not concern imperative rules, such as carrier liability.
Based on this, the bill of lading, the rights and obligations of the shipper, the carrier, and the consignee are regulated, with special attention to carrier liability and limitations thereof: successive carriers, multimodal transport, moving contract, and prescription of actions.
Finally, it should be noted that the objectives set by the European Union in the field of transport, such as improving the quality of the road transport sector and creating an integrated, efficient, competitive, and safe railway space, have highlighted the need to update Spanish regulations in this area, which will, in turn, be a fundamental piece in achieving these objectives.