MAIN LEGAL ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORTATION

MAIN LEGAL ASPECTS

Under the conditions of the war and the resulting negative consequences in the form of the impossibility of ensuring the transportation of goods by air and partially by sea, international road transport has acquired particular demand. Due to greater mobility compared to rail transport, it was road transport that accounted for a significant share of the transport of critical imports and exported products.

It should be noted that the legal regulation of road transport is carried out by the Civil and Economic Codes of Ukraine, the Laws of Ukraine “On Transport”, “On Road Traffic”, “On Road Transport”, “On Freight Forwarding Activities”, Licensing conditions for carrying out economic activities for the transportation of passengers , dangerous goods and hazardous waste by road, international transportation of passengers and goods by road, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated December 2, 2015 No. 1001, transport codes (charters) and international treaties ratified by Ukraine. The latter, in particular, include the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road dated May 19, 1956, which entered into force for Ukraine on May 17, 2007, the Customs Convention on the International Carriage of Goods with the Application of the TIR Book (TIR Convention) of 1970, to which Ukraine acceded on July 15 .1994, and the European Agreement on the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) of 1957, to which Ukraine acceded on 02.03.2000.

In accordance with the legislation in force in Ukraine, business activities for international transportation require licensing. The types of transportation subject to permit control include:

• international transportation of passengers by taxi, cars and buses;
• international transportation of goods by trucks;
• international transportation of dangerous goods and hazardous waste by trucks.

Ancillary activities closely related to transportation are:

• cargo and liability insurance;
• transport and forwarding activities;
• customs brokerage;
• loading and unloading operations, packaging, labeling of goods and cargo;
• warehousing and storage services.

To obtain a license, an enterprise must meet certain requirements regarding staffing, material and technical base, organizational and technological support for transportation activities.

Thus, the future carrier must ensure that the staff has drivers of the appropriate categories, as well as personnel responsible for the maintenance of vehicles. A necessary condition for granting a license is the involvement of a specialist responsible for the organization and safety of international transportation, medical workers.

The material and technical base of the license applicant must ensure the possibility of performing all the technological operations necessary for the implementation of transportation.

The subject of economic activity for the implementation of transportation must have its own or rented vehicles that meet the requirements of both the domestic legislation of Ukraine and international treaties to which our state has acceded.

To obtain a license for international transport, you must also confirm the presence of three years of experience in the implementation of relevant activities in domestic transport. However, for the period of martial law in Ukraine and within 90 calendar days following the day of its termination or cancellation, in order to ensure the implementation of international transportation, the demand for which has increased significantly, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on March 25, 2022 adopted a resolution that temporarily simplified carrier requirements.

Thus, for the period of martial law in order to obtain a license, a business entity does not need to have three years of experience in carrying out relevant activities. To obtain the appropriate license, only an application and information about vehicles with supporting documents are submitted.

However, licenses for the period of martial law are issued temporarily and will subsequently be cancelled. It should also be noted that the carrier is in any case obliged to comply with all requirements established by the license conditions.

It should be noted that our state is adapting the norms of Ukrainian legislation to the norms of EU acts in accordance with the Association Agreement. It is for this purpose that the draft law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the regulation of the market for road transport services in Ukraine in order to bring them into line with the act of the European Union” is being considered today. The main novelties that carriers will need to take into account will be the concepts of impeccable business reputation and proper financial condition, the mechanisms for their confirmation, taken into account when obtaining a license. Also Zach