Rail Transportation of Postal Items: Opportunities and Challenges

1. Transportation of postal items by rail 12 October 2016, Bucharest, European railway business in a global environment Cesare Brand, Secretary General (CIT)

2. The CIT • 130 railway undertakings and maritime companies as full members • 6 associated members • Association under Swiss law with legal personality • Objectives: • Implementation of the COTIF and European law that has an impact upon transport law • Standardisation of the contractual relationship between carriers and between carriers and their customers for passenger and freight traffic • Representation of its members’ interests with the authorities and other organisations

3. Potential for parcel transportation between China and Europe by rail

4. Development of E-commerce in China

5. Freight traffic between China and Europe • Proportion Duration Convention • ~90% > 40 daysHaag-Visby/HamburgRules • < 10% 1 dayMontreal Convention • ~1% ~15 days National law, COTIF/CIM, SMGS

6. Opportunities & challenges for railway companies Eurasian Freight Corridors - An existing market with potential Freight traffic China-Europe ~90% Sea / 40 days <10% Air / 1 day ~1% Railway / ~15 days ~30 Freight trains per week 6

7. Rules for postal transports by rail • Relevant organisations • are workingtogether to define the legalframework for postal transport by rail on the Eurasian corridors • MoUbetween UPU, CIT and CCTT (2016-03-13)

8. Scope of application of COTIF/CIM and SMGS Situation on 1 August 2016 SMGS CIM CIM + SMGS Membership suspended Associate Member

9. Interaction between postal and rail regulation CIT: CIM/SMGS Consignment Note Post D (DO/OE) Con-signee? POST CN (DO(O))/OEForwarder 15-17 days (in future – 10 days) 3 3 RU 2 3 RU 1 UPU: CN 37, CN 34, CP 83 4 Forming or acceptance of a parcel by DO(O) 4 2 4 Buyer/Con-signee 6 ULE Buyer/Con-signee SELLER/Consignor CN Post 5 SELLER/Consignor? Buyer/Con-signee Return Merchandise Service (RMS) DE Post

10. Use of Common CIM/SMGS consignment note Implements both contracts of carriage Recognised as a customs and bank document Does not undermine the CIM/SMGS liability conditions The “sum” of the CIM and SMGS consignment notes Based on: - Article 6 § 8 CIM + Article 6 § 11 and 7 § 15 SMGS - Layout based on the United Nations Layout - Key for trade documents

11. Electronic CIM/SMGS Consignment note as nextstep • Legal and functional specifications: • Last update – 1st October 2013; • Revision by the CIM/SMGS Legal and Experts Group; • Key issues: enforceability of standard clauses (applicable law, place of jurisdiction and duration / amendment / termination of the EDI contract) + accompanying documents in e-form (lack of legal basis); • Functional Specifications: • new edition 1st January 2016 • Legal Specifications: • under revision by the SMGS Experts • TechnicalSpecifications: • No update since issuance May 2009; • Revision by the ad hoc technical Expert Group

12. Solutions to increase railway competitiveness: • GTC Eurasia as instrument on contractual level • General Terms and Conditions for EurAsia Rail Transport Contracts of the CIT • (GTC EurAsia) • Point 3 - of the UNECE Political Declaration • Framework contract - for participating railways (on different corridors) • Applicable law - mandatory provisions of the national law shall apply • Precondition– opting-in through the participating railways (for example DB, PKP Cargo, BC, RZD and CCTT or GETO) • Legal basis - international private law (IPR)

13. Solutions to increase railway competitiveness: UNECE Joint Declaration • Joint Declaration on the promotion of Euro-Asian Rail Transport and activities towards Unified Railway Law (26 February 2013, Geneva) • Important step towards a solution to unify different legal regimes • State of play: Draft of relevant legal provisions to be included into a new international legal railway regime for transmission to the forthcoming session of the Inland Transport Committee (24–26 February 2015). • CIT strongly invites the states and stakeholders to coordinate their work for consistent legal layers - for the benefit of a performant transport logistic and the competitiveness of the railway transportation. SMGS COTIF/CIM Unified Rail Transport Law

14. Status of the project • Two postal transport pilots between China (Harbin) and Russia (Moscow) on passenger trains successful • Pilot to transport postal items from China (Chongqing) to Germany (Duisburg) by container train in preparation by the end of the year • Launch of several new rail/post services between China and Europe in 2017 (US Postal Train)

15. Success key for rail carriage of postal items • Good quality of transport infrastructure and liable services • Competitive prices • Strong collaboration between postal organisations, customs, railways and customers • Use of existing and proved transport and postal documents (paper and in short digital) • Reduction of administrative burdens • Stable and fair legal framework

16. Cesare Brand Secretary General CIT Tel: +41 31 350 01 93 Email: cesare.brand@cit-rail.org  For further information, visit www.cit-rail.org  Thankyou for your attention!