This year, under the chairmanship of Japan, leaders in the international transport policy scene will meet at the International Transport Forum Summit in Leipzig from 2 to 4 May. It is particularly gratifying that this year’s theme is at the heart of OTIF’s daily business.
If the political will is to promote trade and the long-distance transport of goods by rail between, for example, Europe and Asia, it is no secret that the competitiveness required in rail transport can only be achieved by making it reliable. The customer and the carrier must be able to rely not just on the delivery time, but also on being able to calculate reliably and predictably all the transport costs that will be incurred.
In rail transport, there is primarily a lack of transparency and legal certainty in the individual processing procedures at border crossings (especially at so-called “transit borders”). In this connection, an agreement under international law to formulate and promulgate the law transparently, where available, seems to be an economically interesting and natural first step in order to remove obstacles to border crossing in the shortest possible time.
This is precisely the task that COTIF imposes on the Secretary General of the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail, OTIF.