Digitalisation is spreading to countries large and small, East and West with Moldova the latest to sign up to e-CMR, stepping closer to fully digital transport operations with the use of electronic consignment notes.
Through the efforts of IRU member, the International Association of Road Hauliers of Moldova (AITA), the Moldovan transport industry will benefit from reductions in costs via faster and more transparent data input and exchange, which will improve its competitiveness on the international market.
The use of e-CMR is the first step towards the inevitable shift towards entirely paperless operations – including through the use of digital customs transit systems such as TIR – to establish the critical digital infrastructure for new transport innovations.
Rules for transporting goods internationally are covered by the United Nations Convention for the carriage of goods, the CMR (Convention relative au contrat de transport international de Marchandises par Route). Transport operators, drivers and those receiving shipments use a CMR consignment note, which until recently, was only issued in paper form.
The e-CMR protocol entered into force on 5 June 2011, and to date the contracting parties are: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey.