The carrier shall deliver the goods at the place designated for delivery. The carrier shall be liable for damage to the goods or for the total or partial loss thereof occurring during the time of carriage as well as for any delay in delivery.
Delay in delivery shall be said to occur when the goods have not been delivered within the agreed time limit or, failing an agreed time limit, within the time limit it would be reasonable to allow a diligent carrier, having regard to the circumstances of the case.
The claimant may, without furnishing further proof, treat the goods as totally or partially lost, as the case may be, if they have not been delivered or have been partially delivered thirty days after expiry of the agreed time limit for delivery or, if there is no agreed time limit, within sixty days from the time the carrier took over the goods.
The carrier shall be responsible for the acts and omissions of his agents and servants and of any other persons whose services he makes use of for the performance of the carriage, when such agents, servants or other persons are acting within the scope of their employment as if such acts or omissions were his own.
The carrier shall be relieved of liability if he proves that the loss, damage or delay was caused by a wrongful act or instruction by the claimant, inherent vice of the goods or through circumstances which the carrier could not avoid and the consequences of which he was unable to prevent.
The carrier shall be relieved of liability when the loss or damage arises from the special risks inherent in one or more of the following circumstances:
- Use of open unsheeted vehicles, when their use has been expressly agreed and specified in the consignment note,
- The lack of or defective condition of packing in the case of goods which by their nature are liable to wastage or to be damaged when not properly packed or when not packed,
- Handling, leading, stowage or unloading of the goods by the sender, the consignee or a person acting on behalf of the sender or the consignee etc.
The period of limitation for any action arising out of a carriage shall be one year from the date of delivery or in case of non-delivery from the date on which the delivery should have taken place. However, in the case of willful misconduct, or such default considered as equivalent to willful misconduct, the period of limitation shall be three years.
The action shall be admissible only if a written claim has been made to the first carrier or the last carrier at the prescribed time limit after the date of delivery of the goods or, failing delivery not later than six months after the date on which the goods were taken over.