Air waybill

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The AWB ( English air waybill , AWB ) is in the freight business a document accompanying the goods , which in the air freight traffic over the air cargo is issued.

General

It is one of the waybills intended for transport by land (road: CMR waybill , rail: railway waybill ), by water ( inland waterway transport : loading note , sea ​​transport : sea ​​waybill ) or in the air. Like all other waybills, the air waybill also certifies that the carrier ( cargo airline ) has taken over exactly specified cargo for transport in unit load devices . The internationally uniform IATA air waybill was based on the Warsaw Convention on Carriage in International Air Traffic of 1922, which also regulated the air carrier's liability limitation . It was replaced by the Montreal Convention from 1999.

Legal issues

The air waybill is subject to the freight law of the Commercial Code (HGB), which only regulates the waybill in general. The freight contract is made between the sender or instructed by unloader closed and the carrier. The air waybill signed by the sender and carrier serves - until proof to the contrary - as proof of the conclusion and content of the freight contract as well as for the acceptance of the freight by the carrier ( Section 409 (1) HGB). He thus justifies the - rebuttable - presumption that the cargo and its packaging were in good external condition when the carrier took over and that the number of packages and their marks and numbers match the information on the air waybill. A reversal of the burden of proof is associated with this presumption . Because according to § 292 ZPO , the existence of the cited fact must be assumed until the contrary is proven.

The sender is liable for the correctness and completeness of the air waybill in accordance with Section 414 (1) HGB and is entitled to dispose of the freight in accordance with Section 418 (1) HGB. In particular, he can demand that the carrier do not forward the freight or deliver it to a different destination, to a different delivery point or to another recipient. The sender's right of disposal expires after the goods arrive at the delivery point (Section 418 (2) HGB).

According to Art. 4 Montreal Convention (MT), the air carrier can request the sender to issue and hand over an air waybill and the sender to accept this document; its minimum content is regulated in Art. 5 MT. In contrast to the bill of lading , the air waybill is only an accompanying document and an unloading confirmation , not a security or even traditional paper . It lacks the legitimation function ( securitization of the right to surrender the freight) and the traditional function (representation of the freight). According to Art. 12, Paragraph 3 of the Montreal Convention, the air waybill also serves to prevent further disposal of the cargo; it is thus a blocking paper .

Systematics

Each air waybill is marked with a serial number and the airline's 3-digit code . The IATA agents are assigned AWB number ranges with which the endless consignment note is printed. Example: 172-1234567 5. The first three digits identify the airline (here 172 for Cargolux ). The serial number of the air waybill results from the following seven digits and the last digit is the so-called check digit . This is required to check the authenticity of the air waybill number. It is determined as a modulo 7 calculation : The seven-digit number (without the carrier code) is divided by 7, the rest results in the check digit; so it can only be from 0 to 6.

Three copies are considered originals:

  • for air carriers, signed by the sender (green),
  • for consignee, accompanied cargo, signed (red) by the sender and air carrier and
  • Signed by the air carrier, for the sender, proof of delivery of the goods and the conclusion of the contract (blue).

species

There are different types of air waybills:

  • The IATA Direkt AWB (also English Direct to Consignee , DTC): A shipment with a sender ( English Shipper ) is transported to a destination ( English Destination ) and delivered to a recipient ( English Consignee ). In this case, the "actual" sender is named as the sender and the final recipient of the consignment as the recipient.
  • Consol-AWB : Here, as in groupage traffic on the road, consignments from several senders, e.g. B. collected at the warehouse of the shipping agent. All shipments are then delivered to the airline (often “pre-assembled”, ie on an air freight pallet). The groupage (Consol / Consolidation) then receives a so-called master airwaybill. In relation to the airline, the sender is the shipping agent and the recipient is the receiving agent. For each of the loads included in this groupage shipment, a so-called house airwaybill is created, i.e. a “sub-waybill” in which the actual sender and recipient are named. At the receiving airport, the groupage is handed over to the receiving carrier, who distributes it to the individual recipients.
  • Back-to-Back (B2B): A master and house AWB is also created here; however, it is not a matter of consolidation, but of a single shipment. This variant has to be selected in some countries for reasons of customs law. It is also used to have them collected by the deconsolidator the freight to the recipient if they unfree ( english collect has gone out).

The air freight companies pull i. d. Usually no freight costs are charged to the recipient, d. H. the shipping agent has to pay the freight costs including all additional costs to the airline.

The sender is generally liable - depending on the specific agreement and / or the underlying legal provision - for the correctness of the information in the air waybill, unless he can prove that he is not to blame for the incorrect information (e.g. if the IATA Agent entered the data incorrectly).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Holtij, Documentary Lending Business : Guide for Practitioners , 1994, p. 190
  2. ↑ Fabian Reuschle, Montreal Convention: Commentary , 2005, p. 88
  3. ↑ Fabian Reuschle, Montreal Convention: Commentary , 2005, p. 89
  4. ↑ Utopiax.org
  5. ↑ Airline codes and ticketing codes