Article 1 Definitions

‘Contract of carriage’ means any contract, of any kind, whereby a carrier undertakes against payment of freight to carry goods by inland waterway;

‘Carrier’ means any person by whom or in whose name a contract of carriage has been concluded with a shipper;

‘Actual carrier’ means any person, other than a servant or an agent of the carrier, to whom the performance of the carriage or of part of such carriage has been entrusted by the carrier;

‘Shipper’ means any person by whom or in whose name or on whose behalf a contract of carriage has been concluded with a carrier;

‘Consignee’ means the person entitled to take delivery of the goods;

‘Transport document’ means a document which evidences a contract of carriage and the taking over or loading of goods by a carrier, made out in the form of a bill of lading or consignment note or of any other document used in trade;

‘Goods’ does not include either towed or pushed vessels or the luggage or vehicles of passengers; where the goods are consolidated in a container, on a pallet or in or on a similar article of transport or where they are packed, ‘goods’ includes such article of transport or packaging if supplied by the shipper;

‘In writing’ includes, unless otherwise agreed between the parties concerned, the transmission of information by electronic, optical or similar means of communication, including, but not limited to, telegram, facsimile, telex, electronic mail or electronic data interchange (EDI), provided the information is accessible so as to be usable for subsequent reference;

The law of a State applicable in accordance with this Convention means the rules of law in force in that State other than its rules of private international law.