The Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) is the basic text of the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF).

The Convention was signed on 9 May 1980 (COTIF 1980) and entered into force on 1 May 1985. It was the result of a fundamental reform of the institutional provisions of the two original Conventions, the “International Convention concerning the Carriage of Goods by Rail” (CIM) and the “International Convention concerning the Carriage of Passengers and Luggage by Rail” (CIV), carried out at the 8^th Revision Conference in 1980 All the texts are available here.

COTIF 1980 was subsequently substantially amended to become the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail in the version of the Vilnius Protocol (COTIF 1999), which was signed in July 1999 and entered into force on 1 July 2006. Since then, COTIF 1999 has often been modified.

COTIF governs the functioning of OTIF, its aims, attributions, relations with its Member States and its activities in general.

COTIF sets out rules in the areas of railway contract law, technical interoperability and the transport of dangerous goods. COTIF also contributes to the development of multimodal transport.

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