Transport Law Greece

The international carriage of goods is regulated by the relevant international conventions (CMR for the international carriage of goods by road, Hague-Visby and Hamburg Rules for the carriage of goods by sea, CIM for the carriage of goods by rail and Warsaw and Montreal convention for the carriage of goods by air).

Especially as far as the international carriage of goods by road is concerned, the CMR Convention has been ratified by the Law 559/1977, as amended, and therefore is incorporated into Greek Law, that supercedes any different paragraph of law on this matter, according to Article 28 of the Greek Constitution.

The Greek Law on national carriage of goods by road is regulated by the paragraphs 90-104 of the Merchant Code.

The main differences between the greek law of national carriage of goods by road and the law regarding the international carriage of goods by road are the following:

a) The responsibility of the carrier and the agent in national carriage does not exceed force majeure

b) There is no limit as far as the indemnity payable is concerned, in case of the responsibility of the carrier and the agent, compared to the SDRs (special drawing rights) in international carriage,

c) There is no term of the ‘wilful misconduct’ for the responsibility of the carrier and the agent, as such exists in international carriage

d) Receiving the goods carried and paying the relevant fare crosses out any right of legal proceedings of the consignee against the carrier and the agent, in case of damage,

e) The deadline for filing any lawsuit in national carriage is six months or one year accordingly, compared to one year or three years in international carriage.