Cabotage

In freight law, cabotage means domestic carriage of goods in a host state by a road haulage operator established outside that state. The journey takes place entirely within the host state even though the carrier is established elsewhere. Civil liability for the goods and the public law conditions for carrying out the operation must be assessed separately.

For EU road haulage, Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 sets out when a holder of a Community licence may carry out cabotage. After an international carriage into the host state and delivery of the incoming goods, up to three cabotage operations with the same vehicle may follow under the conditions laid down by that provision. The final unloading must generally take place within seven days of the final unloading of the incoming international carriage. Evidence of the international carriage and of each cabotage operation is important during checks.

In Austria, section 7 of the Güterbeförderungsgesetz 1995 addresses cabotage by foreign road haulage operators. Whether an operation is permitted and which documents must be carried depends on the state of establishment, the licence, the preceding international carriage and the concrete transport service. The cross-border carriage of goods topic and freight forwarding and logistics contracts topic support the distinction. Civil liability issues under the CMR are explained in CMR and the transport contract.