Filing a CMR Claim for Cargo Damage or Delay: Deadlines

When cargo arrives damaged, short, or late, the CMR Convention gives you a very narrow window to claim: you need to note a reservation at the time of delivery or notify the damage in writing within days, and you only have one year to bring an action if no settlement is reached with the carrier. Miss that window and it no longer matters whether the carrier was at fault — the right to claim is gone. Here's what to note, by when, and how to file a CMR claim without losing your case before it starts.

What a reservation is, and why it has to happen at delivery

The Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) sets out, in Article 30, what a consignee must do on taking delivery. Under the Convention, if the consignee takes delivery without recording any reservation, that fact is prima facie evidence that the goods were received in the condition described in the consignment note. In practice, signing the CMR note with no reservation puts the burden on the claimant to prove otherwise afterwards — far harder once the truck has left and the packaging has been removed.

Deadlines by type of issue

Apparent damage, visible on delivery

If the damage is visible when the goods are handed over, the reservation must be recorded on the CMR note itself or communicated to the carrier at that exact moment. There is no later window for this kind of damage — it is now or never, which is why goods should be inspected before signing, not after.

Non-apparent damage, discovered after unpacking

When damage isn't visible at delivery but shows up once the goods are unpacked, Article 30 gives you seven days from delivery — Sundays and public holidays excluded — to send the carrier a written reservation describing the damage. Miss that window and delivery without a reservation counts as evidence against the claimant, who then has to prove the damage another way.

Delay in delivery

To claim for delay, the deadline is twenty-one days from the day the goods were placed at the consignee's disposal, and the claim must also be made in writing.

How to file the claim, step by step

1. Record the reservation on the CMR note or notify it in writing within the relevant deadline: at delivery for apparent damage, within 7 days for non-apparent damage, within 21 days for delay.
2. Gather your evidence: photos of the damage, the signed CMR note with the reservation recorded, the packing list or inventory, and the invoice or declared value of the goods.
3. Send a formal written claim to the carrier, stating the amount claimed and attaching supporting documents. Registered post or a tracked courier gives you proof of the date sent, which matters for what comes next.
4. Wait for the carrier's response. Article 32 of the CMR Convention provides that a written claim suspends the limitation period until the carrier rejects it in writing and returns the accompanying documents.
5. If there's no settlement, start legal or arbitration proceedings within whatever limitation period remains. Don't leave it to the last day — gathering evidence and preparing a claim takes time.

At a glance: the deadlines set by the CMR Convention

How much you can actually claim

Meeting the deadlines doesn't guarantee full recovery of the goods' value. The 1978 Protocol to the CMR Convention caps compensation at 8.33 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per kilogram of gross weight of the goods lost or damaged, unless a higher value was declared on the CMR note itself. For light, high-value cargo — electronics, precision machinery, product samples — that cap is often far below the real loss. We cover when a separate all-risk cargo policy makes sense, and how it interacts with this cap, in our guide to cargo insurance and what CMR liability covers.

Mistakes that sink an otherwise valid claim

• Signing the CMR note with no reservation even when the damage is already visible at that point.
• Waiting more than 7 working days to give written notice of damage that wasn't visible on delivery.
• Raising the issue only verbally or by phone, with no written, dated record.
• Not quantifying the amount claimed or attaching the paperwork that supports it.
• Letting the limitation period run out while waiting on an informal reply instead of a written rejection.

Next step

When cargo is especially fragile or high-value, preventing damage matters more than knowing how to claim afterwards: our fragile and high-value cargo transport across the EU page explains how we cut out the transhipments that cause most claims in the first place. And if you want to check which other documents should travel with every shipment to prevent problems before they happen, see our guide to CMR, T1 and the key documents for road freight in the EU. At Layner Group we operate under the CMR Convention on every shipment and can help you get the paperwork right from pickup.