On Tuesday, July 23, the State Duma passed in the third reading a bill on easing sanctions against the railway carrier, OAO Russian Railways, for violating the terms of cargo delivery. The necessary amendments, as reported by TASS, are made to the Charter of the railway transport of the Russian Federation.

According to current regulations, the responsibility of the Russian Railways for the delay in delivery of goods, empty cars or containers is set at 9% of the freight charge for each day of delay. The maximum liability amount is 100% of the freight charge.

However, the adopted amendments soften the responsibility of Russian Railways by providing that the carrier for the day of delay will pay “penalties in the amount of 6% of the freight charge, empty freight wagon (s), container (s) for each day of delay”, while their maximum size does not must exceed 50% of the payment.
At the same time, the law, as noted by the authors of the amendments, does not annul the right of shippers and consignees to quality and timely delivery, since it does not exclude the carrier’s liability, but only aligns it for domestic rail transport with responsibility for international transport.