The Ministry of Transport launches a single document for multimodal transport
The Law on Direct Multimodal Transport will start working in Russia on September 1. The innovation radically changes the approach to document management in logistics. On the eve of the entry into force of the new measures, the Ministry of Transport submitted for public discussion a draft form for a single transport document (UTA) and the rules for filling it out, according to the official portal of the department.
Now, when organizing routes that use different types of transport — from cars to railways and ships — the carrier will have to issue one unified document. The ETA must accompany the cargo or passenger from the departure to the final destination, covering the entire route without the need to duplicate paperwork.
The draft of the Ministry of Transport details which data will be mandatory: information about the carrier, the nature of the cargo or baggage, the route, the conditions of movement on each section of the route, the cost of services and other service marks. The document must also specify the sender, recipient, information about hand luggage and any special conditions of carriage.
The ETA can be issued both in paper and electronic form. At the same time, the paper form must meet a number of requirements: corrections and double-sided printing are prohibited, as well as fields for the number, series, date and time of compilation are required. Carriers will form the electronic format in their own systems with the mandatory assignment of a unique number in accordance with technical regulations, which will subsequently be approved by the Federal Tax Service.
The innovation will be an important step towards the standardization and digitalization of logistics processes in the country. The proposed measure will simplify interaction between transportation participants, minimize bureaucratic costs and increase transparency of operations at all stages of the route. Such a system will be especially relevant for large logistics operators operating in complex transport links between regions and countries.
The public discussion of the project will last until May 30. It is expected that the document will receive broad support from businesses interested in optimizing document flow and improving transportation efficiency.
