Governments of States-Members of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM (ODED-GUAM) hereinafter referred to as “Parties”,

recognizing that international transportation of goods is one of the means contributing to purposeful development of trade and economic relations among ODED – GUAM Member-States;

aware that environmental protection, increasing transportation economic efficiency, reducing consumption of fuel and energy resources, ensuring traffic safety, increasing capacity of transportation system require that owners of goods have alternatives in the choice of the type of transport utilized in transportation of goods;

convinced that multimodal transportation offers a large choice for international transportation of goods;

have agreed as follows:

Article 1
General Provisions

The present Agreement shall govern relations among transport organizations, multimodal transportation operators, consigners, consignees, other natural and legal persons representing the owner of goods during transportation of goods, multimodal transportation utilizing rail, sea, river, road transport and ferry service, set forth rights, obligations, and liability of each of the participants to the transportation.

The present Agreement shall not affect rights and obligations arising from other international instruments to which ODED-GUAM Member-States are Parties.

The present Agreement shall apply in the field of international multimodal transportation of goods among ODED-GUAM Member-States and transit through their territories carried out by carriers incorporated in the territory of a Party with origin and destination in their territory and utilization of rail, river, sea, and road transport.

Article 2
Definitions

Definitions used in the present Agreements shall have the following meaning:

  1. Multimodal transportation – transportation of goods performed with two or more types of transport.
  2. Multimodal transportation operator – any natural or legal person that, in order to perform multimodal transportation, concludes, on his own behalf, agreements with owners of goods (consignors) and transport organizations and is liable for organization of such transportation.
  3. Multimodal transportation agreement – an agreement concluded by multimodal transportation operator or another carrier with the owner of goods (forwarder) on the delivery of goods by two or more types of transport.
  4. Transport unit of multimodal transportation – transport means, containers used for multimodal transportation of goods.
  5. Multimodal transportation terminal – a territory with a complex of buildings, structures, engineering facilities and communications (railway stations, vehicle terminals, sea, river, air, and road ports, freight customs depots) which are necessary to load and unload transport units of multimodal transportation and to their short-term conservation in point where types of transport are changed, as well as customs and other types of control, formalizing goods and vehicles in accordance with domestic legislation of the Parties.
  6. Consignor – legal or natural person that commits goods under the authority of other persons or companies (forwarder, carrier/transportation operator) for its delivery to consignee.
  7. Carrier – legal or natural person that is incorporated in the territory of a Party and that, under transportation agreement with an operator, takes up obligations and liability for the delivery of goods in the place of destination, performs transportation of goods and delivers (transfers) them to the consignee or another person as specified in the transportation agreement.
  8. Forwarder – intermediary that arranges transportation of goods and/or provides correspondent services upon consignor’s instruction.

Article 3
Objectives

  1. The present Agreement shall pursue the following goals:
    1. developing economic relations, trade and transport services among ODED-GUAM Member-States;
    2. creating conditions for ensuring and providing services related to multimodal transportation of goods;
    3. setting up uniform requirements for multimodal transportation carriers and operators to meet when fulfilling a multimodal transportation agreement;
    4. increasing economic efficiency of transportation of goods;
    5. ensuring traffic safety, safety of goods and environmental protection;
    6. creating equal conditions for the competition among various types of transport;
    7. harmonizing transport policy and legal rules in the field of transport.
  2. Multimodal transportation of goods shall be governed by Parties’ domestic laws. In accordance with international treaties, the present Agreement, and other legal and regulatory acts, competent authorities of the Parties issue, within their competencies, rules for transportation of goods in multimodal operation by rail, river, sea, and road transport and ferry services, and freight terminals, guidelines and other legal and regulatory acts governing relations in multimodal operations, all of such acts being binding on legal and natural persons.

Article 4
Organization of Multimodal Transportation of Goods

  1. The way in which multimodal transportation of goods should occur shall be defined by rules of international law and national laws of Parties governing such operations, unless the present Agreement provides otherwise.
  2. The following may participate in multimodal transportation of goods:
    1. railway stations open for appropriate operations in multimodal transportation of goods;
    2. sea and river ports (hereinafter referred as “ports”;
    3. freight terminals;
    4. ferry complexes;
    5. ships designed to carry transport units of multimodal transportation.
  3. Appropriate authorities of the Parties shall determine terminals for multimodal transportation of goods. Appropriate authorities communicate each other the list of terminals.

Article 5
Rights, Obligations, and Liability of the Multimodal Transportation Operator

  1. Multimodal transportation operator shall be required to ensure organization of transportation of goods it is responsible for.
  2. Multimodal transportation operator shall be liable before consignor (owner of goods), consignee, and carrier in accordance with domestic laws of the Parties.
  3. Insurance in the field of multimodal transportation of goods shall be made in accordance with domestic laws of the Parties.

Article 6
Rights, Obligations, and Liability of the Owner of Goods (Consigner)

Rights, obligations, and liability of the owner of goods (consigner) shall be defined in accordance with international agreements to which States are Parties and with domestic laws of the latter.

Article 7
Settlement of Disputes

Disputes and disagreements which may arise in connection with application and interpretation of the present Agreement shall be settled through negotiations and consultations between Parties.

Article 8
Competent Authorities

  1. For the purpose of the present Agreement, the following shall be competent authorities of the Parties:
  2. Parties shall be required to inform each other on any changes in the appointment of appropriate competent authority.

Article 9
Support for, and Promotion of, Multimodal Transportation of Goods

  1. Parties shall take all necessary measures so that their railway administrations, ports, shipping companies, road transport firms, and multimodal transportation operators, in accordance with domestic laws of the Parties, have agreed on urgent actions in support of multimodal transportation of goods taking into account advantages offered by this type of transportation.
  2. Parties, within the framework of domestic laws, shall contribute to encouraging the development and competitiveness of multimodal transportation operations which transport companies and multimodal transportation operators carry out by rail, road, river, and sea transport.
  3. Parties shall support and assist their railway and road companies and ports in developing infrastructure used for multimodal transportation of goods.
  4. Parties, within the framework of domestic laws, shall take necessary measures to accelerate inspections of goods shipped through multimodal transportation and shall promote transferring customs clearance of multimodal transportations from border crossings to multimodal transportation terminals.
  5. Parties shall cooperate and assist each other in creating favorable conditions for the development of multimodal transportation of goods.
  6. Parties’ appropriate authorities shall contribute to the implementation of the present Agreement, the exchange of information which regulates multimodal transportation of goods.
  7. Parties will promote pursuing coordinated tariff policy in the field of transportation and handling of goods at multimodal transportation terminals.

Article 10
Force Majeure

Whenever any force majeure occurs in the course of multimodal transportation of goods, the Parties will take measures as provided for in their domestic laws. Parties shall promptly inform each other on the occurrence of the force majeure and decide on urgent actions to be taken to ensure the continuity of multimodal transportation of goods.

Article 11
Amending or Modifying the Present Agreement

The present Agreement shall be amended or modified upon agreement among the Parties. Any amendments or modifications should be executed in a protocol which constitutes an integral part of the present Agreement and enters into force as prescribed in Article 12 of the present Agreement.

Article 12
Entry into Force

The present Agreement shall enter into force 30 (thirty) days after the Depositary has received, through diplomatic channels, the last notification that Parties have completed all internal procedures necessary for the present Agreement to enter into force. The Depositary informs all of the Parties on the entry into force of the present Agreement.

Article 13
Accession to the Present Agreement

  1. The present Agreement shall be open for accession of any State provided that the Depositary has received the consent of all Parties of the present Agreement through diplomatic channels.
  2. In respect of any acceding State, the present Agreement shall enter into force thirty (30) days after the Depositary has received the instrument of accession and notification that all internal procedures necessary for the accession to the present Agreement have been completed. The acceding State informs the Depositary on its competent authority.

Article 14
Tenure of the Agreement

  1. The present Agreement shall remain in force indefinitely.
  2. Any of the Parties may denounce the present Agreement by addressing the notification to the Depositary trough diplomatic channels. Such denunciation takes effect six months after the date of receipt of the notification by the Depositary.

Article 15
Depositary of the Agreement

  1. Secretariat of the ODED-GUAM shall be the Depositary of the present Agreement.
  2. The Depositary shall transmit certified copies of the present Agreement to Parties. The Depositary notifies the Parties of any accession to the present Agreement or its denunciation by a Party or by all of the Parties.

Done at Baku this nineteenth day of June 19, 2007 in one copy in Russian.