Welcome to the CMR
Advisory Council
CMR ADVISORY COUNCIL - NEWS
ADOPTION OF THE FIRST CMR-AC OPINION : Article 2.1 CMR on piggyback transport adopted on July 2nd 2026 (now online : see page ‘opinions & advices)
CMR 70th Anniversary:
October 2026 – Romania – University of Bucharest
The closing ceremony of the 70th anniversary of the CMR Convention took place on Friday 9 October, following three intensive days of training, fascinating academic presentations and lively debates, round-table discussions with industry professionals, as well as a Moot Court involving around fifteen students from the Romanian universities of Bucharest and Cluj, supervised by three academic colleagues.
The CMR Advisory Council’s organising committee would like to thank all the numerous participants, the sponsors and the University of Bucharest, which hosted us in its prestigious premises, and in particular Andreea-Teodora Stănescu.
We look forward to seeing all CMR enthusiasts in autumn 2027 in Rotterdam to mark the 80th anniversary of the Stichting Vervoeradres foundation.
Our contacts :
CMR-AC
Chair : Frank Smeele smeele@law.eur.nl
Vice-chair : Cécile Legros cecile.legros@univ-rouen.fr
International relation officer : Tobias Eckardt teckardt@hs-bremerhaven.de
Secretary : Marta Kołacz marta.kolacz@maastrichtuniversity.nl
IDIT International Institute on Transport Law (France)
Director : Ludovic COUTURIER <lcouturier@idit.fr>
Secretary : Marie-Line LAFILE <MLAFILE@idit.asso.fr>
CMR Data base manager : Gaëlle BONJOUR <GBONJOUR@idit.asso.fr>
Do not hesitate to contact her and send her relevant decisions from your country !
>CMR data base : https://iditactu.wordpress.com/recherche/base-de-donnee/
The CMR-AC
The CMR Advisory Council is an academic initiative which aims at promoting a uniform and autonomous interpretation of the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (Geneva, 19 May 1956) (CMR).
The CMR Advisory Council was set up in October 2023 by a group of academics specializing in international transport. The Council members do not represent countries or legal cultures, their sole objective is to improve uniform law by:
- making – as an amicus curiae to courts and arbitral tribunals in the contracting states – judicial and arbitral decisions, legal doctrine and preparatory works on the CMR Convention more easily accessible,
- providing independent, impartial and well-informed legal opinions upon interpretation issues arising under CMR.
Objectives of the Council
The purpose of the Council shall be to:
- promote a uniform interpretation of the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) by the Courts and transport stakeholders, as guided by the preamble of the Convention.
- address issues brought to the Council’s attention via formal requests of individuals or organizations within the international community or on the Council’s own initiative, subject to Article III.1.
- issue and publish opinions and declarations on the interpretation, application, and in general the role of the Convention ss guided by its preamble in the two official languages of the CMR and in other languages required for the dissemination of these opinions.
- follow and support further work on harmonization and unification of law in the field of international transport law.
- contribute to the dissemination of knowledge on international transport law.
Board
Were elected :
- as Chairman: Pr. Frank Smeele – Erasmus University – Rotterdam – The Netherlands
- as Vice-Chair: Pr. Cécile Legros – Université de Rouen Normandie – France
- as Secretary: M. Kolacz – Maastricht University – The Netherlands
Upcoming events
OPINIONS. Work on the first opinions on Article 1.1. and Article 2.1. CMR has progressed. The first opinions are expected soon.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CMR. Stockholm/Sweden – 19 & 20 September 2024 (programme coming soon)
REGISTRATION LINK : https://enquetes-ng.univ-rouen.fr/index.php/972246?lang=en
PROGRAMME : https://www.cmr-ac.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Program-CMR-Colloquium-2024-vdef.pdf