Before the audit starts
How long you have to bring a claim
An overcharge on an invoice does not disappear — the right to claim it does. In road carriage under the CMR Convention that is often one year, and the clock does not start on the invoice date. Before an audit begins we establish what can still be claimed.
Why a three-year archive does not always mean three years of claims
Article 32 of the CMR Convention sets a one-year limitation period for actions arising out of carriage under the Convention. Three years apply only in the case of wilful misconduct, or such default as is considered equivalent to it, and whether that is the case is for the court to decide.
An invoice overcharge falls under the general rule: the period begins three months after the making of the contract of carriage. In practice that means a window of about fifteen months from the contract, not three years from the invoice.
Other areas have different periods. For customs overpayments the Union Customs Code provides three years, for German road toll refunds the end of the third calendar year, and for foreign VAT refunds 30 September.
A written claim stops the clock
Under Article 32(2) a written claim suspends the limitation period until the day the carrier rejects it in writing and returns the documents attached to it.
This has two practical consequences. First, it is worth submitting a claim before the period expires, even if the dispute is unresolved. Second, only the first claim suspends — further claims on the same subject no longer stop the clock.
The burden of proof that the claim was received lies with the party relying on the suspension. That is why we keep proof of submission together with the claim itself.
A time-barred claim cannot even be set off
Article 32(4) provides that a right of action which has become barred by lapse of time may not be exercised by way of counter-claim or set-off.
In practice this means you cannot simply deduct the overcharge from what you owe the carrier. A missed deadline closes that route as well.
What we do not decide
Whether your contract is one of carriage or of freight forwarding. Which law applies. Whether conduct amounts to wilful misconduct. Whether an act interrupting the period has occurred under national law.
These are legal assessments. We take them as inputs and state plainly which parameters we relied on. Every calculated period is preliminary.