A commercial act is a document relating to strict reporting securities. Features of its compilation are strictly regulated. This document fixes and certifies all circumstances that give reason to attract all guilty entities (transport company, passengers, consignees and senders of baggage) from property liability.
The essence of the commercial act
According to the norms of the Russian Civil Procedure Code, when a party files a claim, it is obliged to prove the circumstances by which they are justified. These facts must be supported by documentary evidence.
In disputes that are related to violation of the terms of the contract for the carriage of goods, passengers, baggage, circumstances that may serve as the reason for the liability of a material nature on the railway are certified by special general documents. Such paper is a commercial act.
The responsibility of consignees, passengers, consignees is fixed by documents that are compiled by railway stations, in accordance with Article 119 of the Charter of railway transport.
The objectives of the commercial act
A commercial act is a document that is prepared in order to certify the following list of circumstances:
- the establishment of a discrepancy between the name, quantity or mass of cargo, baggage and information specified in the documents for transportation;
- damage and spoilage of cargo, baggage or cargo luggage;
- detection of cargo luggage, cargo, baggage in the absence of documents or papers without cargo, baggage, cargo luggage;
- return of the stolen cargo, baggage, cargo luggage to the railway station;
- non-transfer by the railway station of cargo on the non-public path during the day after the commodity office of the railway station issued a package according to the documents.
The procedure for compiling a document
A commercial act is a document that is drawn up by a carrier in cases where it has discovered these circumstances or one of these facts has been indicated by the consignor or recipient of the parcel, baggage, cargo luggage.
The procedure for filling in acts of a commercial type and general acts is established by a special document - the Rules of Freight (Article 119 of the Charter of Railway Transport).
A commercial type act refers to the most important securities when considering the grounds and establishing liability measures for each entity involved in damage, deterioration, loss of cargo luggage, cargo, baggage.
At the same time, such a paper is not considered an irrefutable document that finally confirms the guilt of a particular party in the event of one of the above situations. It must be considered together with other documents attached to the claim type application.
The commercial type act is drawn up exclusively at railway stations on letterhead with strict reporting in three identical copies. The document is filled in with a pen or typewriter, without blots, corrections and erasures.
The moment of drawing up the act
When filling out a commercial act in the form established by federal regulatory legal acts, it is important to remember that the time of filling out the document is strictly regulated. If the unloading of goods is carried out in places with common use, acts of a commercial type on the day of delivery.
In some cases, the paper is filled at the time of delivery of the parcel to the consignee. If unloading is carried out in places not related to general use, the information in the document shall be entered on the day of transfer of the goods.
Checking the quality and quantity of goods should be carried out during unloading or immediately after it. In the process of drawing up paper on the way to the place where the train stopped, the station, which revealed the relevant circumstances, due to which it became necessary to draw up a commercial type act, must do so on this day.
If it is not possible to do this within the prescribed time, the relevant station should record the information in the commercial act within the next twenty-four hours.
Cases when a commercial act is not drawn up
In some cases, filling out a commercial act in the form established by federal regulatory legal acts is not provided. In particular, such a document is not drawn up if the difference in the weight of the cargo does not exceed the natural rate of loss, indicators of discrepancy in the measures of weights, or the exact rate of weighing the parcel.
In such situations, the cargo is issued in the manner prescribed by the relevant Rules governing the process of issuing parcels. On each of the copies of the act the stamp of the corresponding station is affixed.
One copy is sent to the appropriate road service, the second act is issued to the consignee upon request, the third one remains in the documents at the station that conducts the indicated case.
In the process of drawing up an act of commercial type at the station sending the goods, or on the return trip, the second sheet of the document is attached to the statement of the road type or consignment note and sent along with the cargo to the destination station.
When drafting the corresponding document, a special mark is made on the back of the road type sheet and consignment note.
The content of the act of a commercial nature
When drawing up a commercial act, it must be remembered that all questions posed in the form should be answered clearly. You cannot cross out and put quotation marks in place of re-specifying the necessary data.
The document contains the following information:
- baggage or cargo condition;
- circumstances in the event of which a malfunction was detected;
- verification of the correct placement, immersion, cargo securing;
- the presence of protective markings for parcels that are transported on a rolling stock.
If the goods are incorrectly loaded, secured or placed, the types of committed violations shall be indicated in the relevant document. The commercial type act should not contain any preliminary conclusions and assumptions as to the reasons for the delivery failure or the fault of the carrier and the shipper.
In the process of considering disputes related to shortage, damage, damage to the cargo, it is unacceptable to superficially evaluate the information contained in acts of a commercial type.
For example, you need to take into account how detailed and accurately described in the document the circumstances the occurrence of which contributed to the detection of cargo non-safety, and the condition of the parcel (serviceability of rolling stock and seals, absence or presence of theft signs, correctness and completeness of loading, securing and placement of cargo, compliance with loading conditions, etc.).
Arbitrage practice
The Metallosnabsbyt office filed a lawsuit against the railway department and the shipper with a request to recover the cost of shortage of one related part of the pipes. Since during the inspection, the serviceability of the platform on which the cargo was delivered was established, the responsibility was imposed on the shipper.
The court decision was quashed by a higher court on the following grounds. According to the norms of the Charter of railway transport, a carrier can be released from liability on a rolling open serviceable train in the absence of overload, the presence of protective markings and the presence of other facts indicating that the cargo was delivered intact.
In the case under review, when filling out a commercial act, the condition of the parcel, labeling, placement option, etc. were not indicated. Therefore, liability should be imposed on the railway carrier company.
The subjects of signing commercial acts
A commercial act (sample below) should be signed only by those citizens who are listed in the Rules governing the carriage of goods. Refusal to sign a document is unacceptable. If one of the parties does not agree with the content of the paper, it is entitled to express its position in writing.
Persons who drew up or signed a commercial type act or a document with a general form that contains information that contradicts reality must bear the responsibility established by regulatory legal acts.
The paper is signed by one of the following entities:
- station manager;
- his deputy;
- Head of the cargo type area (warehouse manager, senior transceiver);
- station transceiver;
- consignee (with his participation in the inspection).
If necessary, verification of the cargo and signing of the act can be carried out with the involvement of other employees of the carrier. The minimum number of entities signing the document is three.
Cases of refusal to issue an act
A commercial act is drawn up in cases of transportation of goods, except when the parcel arrived with a document from the associated stations. In this situation, the new paper does not fill up. At the same time, it is necessary that the information of the commercial type act and the actual quantity, quality and other indicators are identical.
After checking compliance, a note is made in the document that there is no difference between the paper and the actual situation. If inconsistencies are revealed during the analysis, another act of a commercial type is drawn up.
If the recipient requires it, the station must within three days issue a document that was prepared on the specified shipment. The consignee has the right to demand the issuance of the relevant paper within one year from the date of delivery of the parcel.
Unjustified refusal to issue an act
Having considered in what cases a commercial act is drawn up, one should study the situation when the railway station unreasonably refuses to issue the act to the consignee, or issues a document drawn up with violations.
If the consignee has lost the document due to his fault, the sender is not obliged to issue him repeated paper. In this case, the recipient of the goods has the right to make a claim if a bill of lading with a note on the drawing up of a commercial type act by the carrier is attached to his claim.
If the station refuses to compile a document, the recipient has the right to write a statement addressed to the head of the department or station within 24 hours from the moment of analyzing the state of the cargo at the place of non-public use.
The filed complaint is considered by the head of the department. If the cargo is considered a perishable product, the complaint will be considered within 24 hours; if not, within three days from the receipt of the paper.
Other documents
The purpose of the commercial act is to certify the shipment and delivery of goods in the proper form. In the process of fulfilling the contract for the carriage of goods, circumstances may arise that serve as the basis for the occurrence of liability of a material type or which are certified by relevant documents in the case of filing claims and claims.
Other documents include the following papers:
- Acts with a general form.
- Acts of the technical condition of containers and wagons, damage.
- Acts of shortage of bunker-type gondola cars or tanks.
- Acts of opening containers or wagons for border or customs inspection.
- Other documents compiled by the rules for the transportation of certain types of goods.
General act
In some cases, instead of filling out commercial acts, filling out acts of the general form takes place. This document certifies the following circumstances:
- loss of documents that were attached to the consignment note by the consignor;
- a simple number of railcars at the terminal station awaiting loading and unloading for reasons that depend on the consignee;
- non-cleaning of the inside of cars from debris and the remnants of the transported goods;
- other cases.
The commercial act of damage (if any) and the delivery of goods is considered the most important document by which it is possible to reconcile the goods sent and received.