Update: Judgement of the Cologne Administrative Court on the HGV toll

On 20 March 2024, the Administrative Court of Cologne ruled in a judgment (file number 14 K 6556/20) that the collection of the HGV toll in the period from 1 October 2015 to 27 October 2020 was unlawful insofar as the costs for the traffic police had been taken into account when calculating the toll. […]

Caution when doing business with a UG (haftungsbeschränkt)

Many Polish enterprises are unaware of the certain risks involved in doing business with an Unternehmergesellschaft, shortened to UG (haftungsbeschränkt). This can have serious consequences for suppliers, contractors or other contractual partners of the Unternehmergesellschaft, as in many cases the Unternehmergesellschaft companies do not have sufficient creditworthiness. What is the Unternehmergesellschaft? The Unternehmergesellschaft is a […]

Why can a German insolvency administrator claim payments from creditors?

If a company or individual with its registered office in Germany falls into financial difficulties, insolvency proceedings are opened in Germany at the request of the debtor or a creditor. The aim of insolvency proceedings is to enable all creditors to be satisfied equally from the debtor’s assets. To this end, the insolvency administrator has […]

Why do transport companies get sued in Germany?

There are various reasons why transport companies can be sued. In most cases, claims are based on the following facts: Loss and theft of cargo The most common case of cargo loss during transport is cargo theft. As Germany is a central European transit country for international road transport, numerous criminal gangs have specialised in […]

Signing the consignment note or loading list as a liability trap

Truck drivers often sign the CMR waybill or a loading list without checking the load. This can lead to the carrier’s liability if part of the load is missing. The Federal Court of Justice has ruled that the carrier is fully liable for the damage in accordance with Art. 29 CMR. In daily practice, it […]

As of when does a claim for demurrage exist and in what amount under German law?

If a truck cannot be used to fulfill a follow-up order due to delays at the loading or unloading point, the transport company involved suffers considerable economic damage. The claim to demurrage is not regulated in the CMR Convention. Regulation under German law If the forwarder and the carrier have not reached an agreement on […]

Fraud by phantom transport companies

Cargo thefts in car parking lots by slitting tarpaulins and the theft of valuable and easily saleable transport goods are unfortunately an everyday problem. A new trend is the fraud committed by phantom companies on online freight exchanges. Fraudster gangs use online freight exchanges to obtain transport orders by way of subcontracting and to completely […]

Attorney Adriana Grau, LL.M. in interview with Rzeczpospolita about MAUT returns

Attorney Adriana Grau, LL.M. in another interview with the polish national daily Rzeczpospolita, indicates why it is worth filing toll refunds and what the possible amounts of refunds may be.  In response to questions from Rzeczpospolita, a nationwide polish daily, attorney Adriana Grau, LL.M., gives examples of toll refund calculations and indicates why it is […]

Posting of workers. Shortage of professional drivers on the labor market.

Trade relations between Poland and Germany have become a strategic point in international trade. These transactions include not only the exchange of goods, but also the flow of the services. In the recent years, the shortage of workers has also affected the transport industry in Germany. Posting employees to work across the Oder River is […]

GRAU Rechtsanwälte PartGmbB as a partner of the Transport Meetings in Warsaw

We are very pleased that on 2.06.2022 we participated in the „Transport Meetings” conference, organised by the TSL Biznes portal and the KMG Media publishing house. This is already the subsequent edition of the spring series of Transport Meetings, organized in five locations. GRAU Rechtsanwälte PartGmbB is the content partner of the Transport Meetings in […]