BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 7. Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine may start using the electronic CIM/SMGS consignment note as early as 2024, Trend reports.
According to the press service of the Permanent Secretariat of the TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission, it will initially be possible to test the use of the CIM/SMGS electronic waybill only between railway operators in early 2024, and then, in early 2025, with other stakeholders in multimodal transport and customs authorities.
"According to the action plan, the results of the pilot project will be proposals and roadmaps for changing or establishing the legal framework, further development of information infrastructure, establishing effective electronic information exchange between railway structures, as well as better integration of railway IT systems with IT systems of operators of other means of transport, customs and other border authorities", the press service said.
The regular use of the electronic CIM/SMGS consignment note, digitalization and electronic interaction between various stakeholders will increase the efficiency of transport operations along the TRACECA corridor.
Meanwhile, the CIM consignment notes apply to any contract for the carriage of goods by rail for a fee if the place of receipt and the place of delivery of the goods are located in two different member states.
On the terms of the SMGS, goods are transported in direct international rail freight traffic between stations, on the consignment notes provided for by the SMGS, and only on the SMGS participating railway network.