Conditions for international multimodal transport business in Vietnam

Conditions for international multimodal transport business in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What is multimodal transport?

According to Clause 1, Article 2 of Decree 87/2009/ND-CP, multimodal transport means the carriage of goods by at least two different modes of transport on the basis of a multimodal transport contract.

2. Conditions for international multimodal transport business in Vietnam

According to Article 5 of Decree 87/2009/ND-CP (amended in Clause 2, Article 1 of Decree 144/2018/ND-CP), the conditions applied to international multimodal transport are as follows:

- A Vietnamese enterprise or cooperative, or a foreign-invested enterprise in Vietnam is allowed to engage in international multimodal transport only after obtaining the License to provide international multimodal transport service by means of satisfying all of the following licensing requirements:

+ Maintain a minimum amount of assets equivalent to SDR 80,000 or provide an equivalent guarantee or an alternative of financial character as regulated by laws;

+ Have a liability insurance policy for multimodal transport operator or an equivalent guarantee.

- An enterprise of a member state of the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Multimodal Transport or another international treaty on multimodal transport to which Vietnam is a signatory are allowed to perform international multimodal transport contracts only after obtaining the License to provide international multimodal transport service granted by a competent authority of Vietnam by means of satisfying all of the following licensing requirements:

+ Have a registration certificate of international multimodal transport or another document of equivalent validity issued by the competent national body of its country;

+ Have a liability insurance policy for multimodal transport operator or an equivalent guarantee.

- The Ministry of Transport shall organize the management and issuance of license to provide international multimodal transport service

3. Forms of multimodal transport documents in Vietnam

According to Article 12 of Decree 87/2009/ND-CP, forms of multimodal transport document inlcude:

- Multimodal transport documents in a negotiable form may be issued in any of the following forms:

+ To bearer;

+ To order:

+ To order to the person named in the original document.

- Multimodal transport documents in a non-negotiable form shall be issued in the form to the person named as the consignee.

- Forms of domestic multimodal transport documents shall be agreed by the parties.

4. Details of a multimodal transport document in Vietnam

According to Article 14 of Decree 87/2009/ND-CP, the details of a multimodal transport document are as follows:

- A multimodal transport document contains the following details:

+ The general nature of the goods; marks and signs necessary for the identification of the goods: danger or perishability of the goods number of packages or units: gross weight of the goods or their quantity otherwise described;

All the above-said details shall be supplied by the consignor.

+ The apparent condition of the goods:

+ The name and head office of the multimodal transport operator;

+ The name of the consignor;

+ The name of the consignee, if named by the consignor:

+ The place and date of taking in charge of the goods by the multimodal transport operator;

+ The place of delivery of the goods:

+ The date or period of delivery of the goods at the place of delivery, if already agreed by the involved parties;

+ A statement indicating whether the multimodal transport document is negotiable or non-negotiable:

+ The signature of the representative of or a person authorized by the multimodal transport operator;

+ The freight for each mode of transportation if already agreed by the involved parties, or the freight and its currency payable by the consignee, or other indications that the freight is payable by the consignee;

+ The planned itinerary, mode of transport in each route and places of transshipment, if already known at the time of issuance of the multimodal transport document:

+ Other details which the involved parties agree to include in the multimodal transport document, if not contrary to law.

- The omission of one or more of the details above does not affect the legality of a multimodal transport document.

Quoc Dat

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