CMR consignment note
Also known as: CMR
The CMR consignment note is the standard transport document for international road haulage under the CMR Convention. It proves the contract of carriage and the handover of the cargo, but it is not a document of title.
What is a CMR consignment note and when does the convention apply?
CMR stands for the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, concluded in Geneva in 1956. The convention applies when the place of taking over and the place of delivery lie in two different countries, of which at least one is a party. The Netherlands and Belgium are parties, as is the United Kingdom after Brexit. For a run from Rotterdam to Manchester the CMR therefore remains the transport document. The consignment note is proof of the contract of carriage between sender and carrier. It is not a negotiable instrument: holding the sheet does not make you the owner of the cargo. That is what distinguishes the CMR from the cognossement in sea freight. For Customs the CMR is the document with which you show how the goods moved, how many packages there were, what the weight was, and who the sender and the consignee are. Domestic road transport falls outside the convention. For that there is often a national consignment note or only a haulage order. After clearance a domestic run needs no CMR. The cross-border run towards it does.
What is on a CMR and how many copies are there?
The standard form has numbered boxes. The most important for the declaration are sender, consignee, place of taking over, place of delivery, marks and numbers, number of packages, type of packing, goods description, gross weight, volume, and the documents attached. Box 13 or 18 often carries instructions for customs, such as the MRN of a T1 or a note that the goods are travelling under suspension. Three copies travel with the load: one for the sender, one for the carrier, one for the consignee. Sometimes a fourth is added for the administration. The driver signs on taking over, the consignee signs on delivery. Those two signatures make the CMR proof of handover. Without the consignee's signature you have little to go on in a damage claim or a missing shipment. The goods description on the CMR is often coarser than the one on the invoice. That is not a fault of the document, it is a feature. The invoice remains leading for classification and value. You use the CMR to check packages, weight and the chain from sender to receiver.
How do you use the CMR in the customs declaration?
On import by road the CMR is the transport document in the file, next to the invoice and the packing list. You take from it the packages, the gross weight, the sender, the consignee and, where relevant, the vehicle registration or the trailer. Those data must match what you put in DMS or, on transit, in NCTS. A difference in packages between CMR and packing list is a standard reason for a question from Customs. If the shipment travels under T1, the MRN of that transit declaration belongs on the CMR or as an annex. On arrival you present the goods at the office of destination or, with an authorisation, at the authorised place. The CMR alone does not discharge the T1. Discharge follows from the return message in NCTS, in the Netherlands via DVA, after the follow-up declaration has been accepted. On export by road the CMR is the proof that the goods were taken. In a discussion about the zero VAT rate, the signed CMR is often the piece that closes the chain. Keep it with the file.
What is the difference between CMR, cognossement and air waybill?
All three documents prove a contract of carriage, but only the cognossement (the bill of lading) is also a document of title. Whoever holds the original cognossement can claim the cargo from the shipping line. A CMR and an air waybill (AWB) do not give that right. The consignee on the CMR is entitled to delivery because they are named as receiver in the document, not because they present an original sheet. That difference has consequences at clearance. In sea freight the terminal waits for a telex release or for surrender of an original. In road transport the cargo is available as soon as the driver delivers at the consignee or the terminal and the consignee signs. There is no documentary release separate from the physical handover. For the declaration the role is comparable: proof of carriage, not a determination of value. The invoice remains leading for the customs value. You use the CMR, the bill of lading or the AWB to check weight, packages and parties. If they do not match, you stop the declaration until the difference is explained.
What is e-CMR and what does that change for the file?
The additional protocol to the CMR Convention of 2008 makes an electronic consignment note equivalent to the paper one. The Netherlands and Belgium take part. An e-CMR is therefore a legally valid transport document, not a copy of a paper sitting somewhere in the cab. The signatures are electronic, the status (loaded, in transit, delivered) is visible in between, and the document no longer depends on a sheet the driver has to hand in. For Customs the evidential value does not change. You must be able to produce the e-CMR in a control, with the same boxes as on paper. In practice that means: a PDF or an extract from the e-CMR platform in the customs file, linked to the same shipment as the invoice. A link that expires after thirty days is not an archive. Watch the content, not the medium. An e-CMR with a vague description or without gross weight is as unusable as a poorly completed paper copy. The protocol does not solve the quality question, it only solves the paper problem.
Where do CMRs go wrong at clearance?
The first problem is a CMR that does not belong with the invoice: one note for five orders, or five notes with one invoice, without a shared reference. Then you cannot check packages and weight and you do not know whether the whole cargo is in the declaration. Put the forwarder's shipment number on the CMR, not only the CMR number itself. Matching on CMR number is risky, because that number is unique at the carrier and not unique for you. The second problem is a missing or unsigned CMR. The driver has already left, the consignee has not signed, and the file has to go into the declaration the next morning. Without a signed CMR you cannot prove the handover. For the import declaration itself that is not always blocking, but in a control or on T1 discharge it is. The third problem is a differing weight or a differing number of packages. The packing list counts 40 cartons, the CMR 38, the invoice 40 lines. Stop the declaration. One of the three is wrong, and Customs sees it at once.