Transportation Law: We will represent your company throughout Austria in any matters relating to Austrian Shipping Law, Freight Law or Transport Law: Law Experts Attorneys, Attorney-at-Law Dr Wiesflecker, Innsbruck/Tyrol and Vienna
Austrian, European and International Transportation Law – Transport Law, Logistics and Freight Forwarding Law
Austrian, European and international transportation law plays an especially important and central role in merchandising. Transportation law covers all legal provisions affiliated with the transportation of goods or passengers. A wide range of applicable legal provisions that are extremely diverse in nature and therefore highly complex characterizes transportation law.
Transportation law is subject to a lot of different legislation including the CMR (Convention on the contract for the international carriage of goods by road), AÖSp (General Austrian freight forwarder terms and conditions), UGB (Austrian Company Code), ABGB (Austrian Civil Code), and so on. Furthermore, the fact that most cases involve cross-border situations usually results in judicial disputes which are often very complicated and expensive. It is thus a very complex matter that requires appropriate experience and expertise.
Your Specialist in Transportation Law, Attorney-at-Law Dr Hannes Wiesflecker
Due to his many years of experience working at renowned international law firms and his specialisation in the areas of international commercial law, contract law and legal proceedings, Dr Hannes Wiesflecker has the relevant expertise and years of experience to succeed in enforcing or defending against legal claims in the area of transport law.
Law Experts Attorneys at Law will advise and support your team in all aspects of transport law, from enforcing claims to defending against unjustified claims. We will also assist you of course in drafting appropriate contracts and terms and conditions in order to reduce liability risks for your company. Our firm focuses primarily on the early recognition of possible problem areas and liability risks.
A brief overview of the services rendered by our law firm:
- Legal advice and representation in cases aiming at the enforcement of claims in transport law
- Consultation and representation in cases aiming at the defense against unjustified claims in transport law
- Legal handling of insurance cases (e.g. damages sustained in accidents, transportation damages)
- Answers to questions related to the legal fundamentals arising from the CMR, AÖSp, UGB, etc.
- Out-of-court-proceedings representation before courts and government agencies in transportation, administrative and administrative criminal law related matters
- Handling of proceedings, in-court proceedings representation before courts and government agencies in transportation, administrative and administrative criminal law related matters
- Compilation of transportation, freight and logistics contracts
- Compilation of General Terms and Conditions in transport law for companies
We will be happy to advise you competently and comprehensively! In transportation matters we provide all of our services in compliance with our 5-Law-Experts-Guarantees. We handle only a limited number of cases simultaneously. Our first priorities are always the satisfaction of our clients and the quality of our services.
From East to West of Austria, from Innsbruck to Vienna: Law Experts Attorneys provide you with reliable legal services. Please click here to write an e-mail to Attorney at Law Dr Wiesflecker or call +43 512 586 586.
For more information on transportation, logistics, shipping law and freight forwarding law, please visit our Knowledge Database or our News section or review our information as follows:
Legal provisions and regulation in regard to transport law
Transportation law covers all legal provisions affiliated with the transportation of goods or passengers. Among the key statutory provisions that fall under the transportation law category are the following:
- Unternehmensgesetzbuch (UGB, Company Act)
- International Convention on Overland Transportation (CMR, Convention Relative au Contrat de Transport International de Marchandises par la Route)
- Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB, General Civil Code)
- Allgemeine Österreichische Spediteurbedingungen (AÖSp, General Logistics Terms of Austria)
- Eisenbahn- und Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtgesetz (EKHG, Railway and Vehicle Liability Insurance Act)
- Bundesgesetz über die Beförderung gefährlicher Güter (Gefahrgutbeförderungsgesetz – GGBG, Austrian Federal Law on the Transportation of Dangerous Goods)
- Übereinkommen zur Vereinheitlichung bestimmter Vorschriften über die Beförderung im internationalen Luftverkehr (Convention on the Uniformity of Certain Provisions Concerning the Transportation via International Air Cargo Providers)
Freight forwarding law – Transport Law, Transportation, logistics and freight forwarding law
The legal materials that are probably the most important in this context pertain to freight forwarding law. A freight forwarder handles the transportation of goods. A logistics company handles the organization of the transportation of goods.
Besides freight forwarding laws and/or the freight forwarding contract there is what we refer to as the logistics contract and the warehousing contract. Principally, one must distinguish between the freight forwarding contract and the logistics contract, since the freight forwarder, on the one hand, handles the transportation of goods and the logistics company, on the other hand, organizes the transport as an agent. The logistics contract is a business agency agreement made between the logistics company and the shipper.
Freight forwarding law covers the more specific legal aspects of transportation. The freight forwarding law contains written statements that explain how the freight contract is to be executed. Hence, freight forwarding law governs the relationships of freight forwarders, i.e. of those individuals or companies that perform transports. The central freight forwarding law issue is always the question as to what will happen if the cargo gets lost, is stolen or damaged or if it arrives tardily. One of the questions that arises frequently is who can demand compensation for damages from whom.
The Freight Forwarding Contract – Transportation Law, Logistics and Freight Forwarding Law
In transportation law, the freight forwarding contract is a special version of the contractor agreement that can be executed informally. Consequently, it is a consensus agreement. In the event of doubt it is a contractor agreement for which compensation is due.
The contracting parties to the freight forwarding agreement are the shipper (as a rule the logistics company) and the freight forwarder. The party to whom the cargo is supposed to be delivered is the recipient. Hence, in most cases there are three parties to a freight forwarding contract.
Rights and Obligations of the Freight Forwarder – Transportation Law & Freight Forwarding Law
Principally, it is the freight forwarder’s responsibility to handle the transportation of cargo within the contractually agreed upon time frame; or, if nothing to that effect has been agreed upon, within a reasonable period of time. Moreover, the freight forwarder is assigned certain due diligence obligations by the freight forwarding or transportation law as far as the accepted cargo is concerned. It is also possible to agree upon additional obligations in the contract.
For these services, the freight forwarder is entitled to the agreed upon remuneration and the refund of additional expenses (e.g. for customs duties) to be paid by the shipper. In the event that a bill of lading was issued and handed over, payment may also be demanded from the recipient (§ 436 UGB; Sect 13 Abs 2 CMR).
The Logistics Business, the Execution of a Logistics Contract, Logistics Service Liability – Transportation Law & Freight Forwarding Law, Transport Law
In transportation law, there is a significant difference between the freight forwarder and the logistics company. The logistics company organizes and plans the transport. The freight forwarder is the party that actually handles the transport.
The execution of a logistics contract is governed by the general provisions of the ABGB. The logistics contract is an informal consensus agreement and, as a result is made based on the identical declarations of consent of the shipper and the logistics company. The logistics agreement can also be made in a conclusive way. The logistics company’s principal is referred to as the shipper.
Principally, the content of the logistics agreement is the handling of the shipment of the cargo. Principally, the logistics company is not liable for the successful completion of the transport.