The Multimodal Transportation of Goods Act, 1993

(1) This Act may be called the MultimodalTransportation of Goods Act, 1993. (2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir*. (3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 16th day of October, 1992.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- 1[(a) "carrier" means a person who performs or undertakes to perform for hire, the carriage orpart thereof, of goods by road, rail, inland waterways, sea or air;] (b) "competent authority" means any person or authority authorised by the CentralGovernment, by notification in the Official Gazette, to perform the functions of the competentauthority under this Act; (c)" consignee" means the person named as consignee in the multimodal transport contract; (d) "consignment" means the goods entrusted to a multimodal transport operator formultimodal transportation; (e) "consignor" means the person, named in the multimodal transport contract as consignor, bywhom or on whose behalf the goods covered by such contract are entrusted to a multimodaltransport operator for multimodal transportation; (f) "delivery" means,-- (i) in the case of a negotiable multimodal transport document, delivering of theconsignment to, or placing the consignment at the disposal of, the consignee or any otherperson entitled to receive it; (ii) in the case of a non-negotiable multimodal transport document, delivering of theconsignment to, or placing the consignment at the disposal of, the consignee or any personauthorised by the consignee to accept delivery of the consignment on his behalf; (g) "endorsee" means the person in whose favour an endorsement is made, and in the case ofsuccessive endorsements, the person in whose favour the last endorsement is made; (h) "endorsement" means the signing by the consignee or the endorsee after adding a directionon a negotiable multimodal transport document to pass the property in the goods mentioned in suchdocument to a specified person; 2[(i) "goods" means any property including live animals, containers, pallets or such otherarticles of transport or packaging supplied by the consignor, irrespective of whether such propertyis to be or is carried on or under the deck; (j) "mode of transport" means carriage of goods by 3[road, air, rail] inland waterways or sea; 4[(k) "multimodal transportation" means carriage of goods, by at least two different modes oftransport under a multimodal transport contract, from the place of acceptance of the goods in Indiato a place of delivery of the goods outside India; (l) "multimodal transport contract" means a contract under which a multimodal transportoperator undertakes to perform or procure the performance of multimodal transportation againstpayment of freight; (la) "multimodal transport document" means a negotiable or non-negotiable documentevidencing a multimodal transport contract and which can be replaced by electronic datainterchange messages permitted by applicable law; (m) "multimodal transport operator" means any person who-- (i) concludes a multimodal transport contract on his own behalf or through anotherperson acting on his behalf; (ii) acts as principal, and 5[not as an agent either of the consignor, or consignee or of thecarrier] participating in the multimodal transportation, and who assumes responsibility for theperformance of the said contract; and (iii) is registered under sub-section (3) of section 4; (n) "negotiable multimodal transport document" means a multimodal transport documentwhich is-- (i) made out to order or to bearer; or (ii) made out to order and is transferable by endorsement; or (iii) made out to bearer and is transferable without endorsement; (o) "non-negotiable multimodal transport document" means a multimodal transport document which indicates only one named consignee; (p) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (q) "registration" means registration of multimodal transport operator under sub-section (3) ofsection 4; 6[(r) "special drawing rights" means such units of accounts as are determined by theInternational Monetary Fund; (s) taking charge means that the goods have been handed over to and accepted for carriageby the multimodal transport operator.]

No person shall carry on or commencethe business of multimodal transportation unless he is registered under this Act: Provided that a person carrying on the business of multimodal transportation immediately before thecommencement of this Act, may continue to do so for a period of three months from suchcommencement; and if he has made an application for registration within the said period, till the disposalof such application.

(1) Any person may apply for registration to thecompetent authority to carry on or commence the business of multimodal transportation. (2) An application under sub-section (1) shall be made in such form as may be prescribed and shall beaccompanied by a fee of ten thousand rupees. (3) On receipt of the application, the competent authority shall satisfy that the applicant fulfils thefollowing conditions, namely:-- 1[(a) (i) that the applicant is a company, firm or proprietary concern, engaged either in thebusiness of shipping, or freight forwarding in India or abroad with a minimum annual turnover offifty lakh rupees during the immediately preceding financial year or an average annual turnover offifty lakh rupees during the preceding three financial years as certified by a Chartered Accountantwithin the meaning of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (38 of 1949 ); (ii) that if the applicant is a company, firm or proprietary concern other than a company, firm orproprietary concern, specified in sub-clause (i), the subscribed share capital of such company or theaggregate balance in the capital account of partners of the firm, or the capital of the proprietor is notless than fifty lakh rupees;] (b) that the applicant has offices or agents or representatives in not less than two other countries,and on being so satisfied, register the applicant as a multimodal transport operator and grant a certificateto it to carry on or commence the business of multimodal transportation: Provided that the competent authority may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, refuse to grantregistration if it is satisfied that the applicant does not fulfil the said conditions: 2[Provided further that any applicant who is not a resident of India and who is not engaged in thebusiness of shipping shall not be granted registration unless he has established a place of business inIndia: Provided also that in respect of any applicant who is not a resident of India, the turnover may becertified by any authority competent to certify the accounts of a company in that country.] 3[(4) A certificate granted under sub-section (3) shall be valid for a period of three years and may berenewed from time to time for a further period of three years at a time. (5) An application for renewal shall be made in such form as may be prescribed and shall beaccompanied by such amount of fees as may be notified by the Central Government: Provided that such fees shall not be less than rupees ten thousand and shall not exceed rupees twentythousand. (6) The competent authority shall renew the registration certificate granted under sub-section (3) ifthe applicant continues to fulfil the conditions as laid down at the time of registration.]

The competent authority may, if it is satisfied at any time afterregistration that-- (a) any statement in, or in relation to, any application under sub-section (2) of section 4 or itsrenewal under sub-section (5) of that section, is incorrect or false in any material particular; or (b) any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder has been contravened by themultimodal transport operator; or (c) the multimodal transport operator has not entered into any multimodal transport contractduring the preceding two years after his registration,cancel by order the certificate of registration: Provided that no such registration shall be cancelled unless the multimodal transport operator hasbeen given a reasonable opportunity of showing cause against the proposed action.