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The Working Group of Legal Experts was set up by the Secretary General in December 2018. It was made up of representatives from all of OTIF’s Member States and the regional economic integration organisations that have acceded to COTIF. It was convened by the Secretary General.
The Working Group of Legal Experts has a purely advisory role in the legal area. Its role was to assist all OTIF’s other organs that submitted legal questions to it. It was also responsible for ensuring effective management of the Convention and, in particular, monitoring and assessing the application of its implementation. It was also able to prepare draft amendments to COTIF and submit them to the competent organs.
The Working Group of Legal Experts thus acted as a forum and think-tank for its members.
It met four times between 2019 and 2021.
At its 15th session in September 2021, the General Assembly decided to establish an ad hoc Committee on Legal Affairs and International Cooperation for a period of three years, which took over the activities of the Group of Legal Experts and the ad hoc Committee on Cooperation.
The Secretary General therefore decided to dissolve the Group of Legal Experts on 1 October 2021.
The archives are available here (access for Member States and the European Union):
In accordance with Article 13 § 2 of COTIF, the 13th General Assembly in September 2018 set up the ad hoc Committee on Cooperation for a period of three years. The Committee was made up of representatives of OTIF’s Member States and the regional economic integration organisations that have acceded to COTIF. It was convened by the Secretary General.
The task of the ad hoc Committee on Cooperation was to take decisions concerning cooperation with other international organisations and associations. It was also able to take decisions on establishing and dissolving consultative contact groups with other international organisations and associations and on monitoring the functioning of these contact groups. The Committee held its discussions in OTIF’s working languages.
It met four times between 2019 and 2021.
At its 15th session in September 2021, the General Assembly decided to establish an ad hoc Committee on Legal Affairs and International Cooperation for a period of three years, which took over the activities of the Group of Legal Experts and the ad hoc Committee on Cooperation.
The archives are available here (access for Member States and the European Union):
In 2014, the Revision Committee mandated the CIM UR working group to discuss and prepare modifications to the CIM UR contained in Appendix B to COTIF.
The working group dealt mainly with the electronic consignment note, how it can be put in place, made more general and what the legal and operational consequences of this generalised approach would be.
It met twice in 2014 and 2015.
The progress of work on the revision of the CIM UR was then the subject of reports by the Secretary General to the General Assembly and to the Revision Committee.
The question of the digitalisation of transport documents was then included in the work programme of the Group of Legal Experts, and then, when the latter was dissolved, in the work programme of the ad hoc Committee on Legal Affairs and International Cooperation.
All available documents can be retrieved from:
Activities > Railway Contract Law > Working Group CIM UR > Reports
Activities > Railway Contract Law > Working Group CIM UR > Working Documents > 2014-2015
The CUI UR working group was set up by the Secretary General in 2014 in order to tackle various issues with a view to modifying the Uniform Rules concerning the Contract of Use of Infrastructure in International Traffic (CUI UR) contained in Appendix E to COTIF.
The working group examined the revision of the scope of the CUI UR and the simplification of the liability regime between carriers and infrastructure managers.
It met four times between 2014 and 2016.
The work carried out by this working group gave rise to some modifications to Appendix E (CUI), which were approved by the General Assembly in September 2018. These modifications are in the course of being approved in the Member States.
All available documents can be retrieved from:
Activities > Railway Contract Law > Working Group CUI UR > Reports
Activities > Railway Contract Law > Working Group CUI UR > Working Documents > 2014-2016
The CUV UR working group was set up by the Secretary General in 2013 following the emergence in the European Union’s regulations of a new actor in the operation of wagons, the entity in charge of maintenance (ECM).
The aim of the working group was to start considering the need to deal at legislative level, in the CUV UR, with the rights and obligations of the parties to the contract of use of wagons as regards wagon maintenance. This working group provided the opportunity to introduce the concept of ECM into the CUV UR and to clarify the liability regime between railway undertakings and wagon keepers.
It met three times between 2013 and 2014.
The work carried out by this working group gave rise to some modifications to Appendix D (CUV), which were approved by the General Assembly in September 2015. Some of these modifications are in the course of being approved in the Member States.
All available documents can be retrieved from:
Activities > Railway Contract Law > Working Group CUV UR > Reports
Activities > Railway Contract Law > Working Group CUV UR > Working Documents > 2013-2014
The working group to amend the procedure for revising COTIF was set up by the Secretary General in 2017 following consultation of the Administrative Committee.
Its task was to propose an amendment to the procedure for revising COTIF, with the aim of simplifying it, thus ensuring that amendments to COTIF enter into force more quickly.
It met once in 2017.
The work carried out by this working group gave rise to some amendments to the procedure for revising COTIF, which were then approved by the General Assembly in September 2018. These amendments are in the course of being approved in the Member States.
All available documents can be retrieved from:
Activities > Railway Contract Law > Working group to amend the procedure for revising COTIF > Reports
Activities > Railway Contract Law > Working group to amend the procedure for revising COTIF > Working Documents > 2017