ABSTRACT
Contractual status of consignment note Article 9 defines the contractual and evidential status of the consignment note. Article 9(1) provides that the note is prima facie evidence of ‘the making of the contract of carriage, the conditions of the contract and the receipt of the goods by the carrier’. Article 9(2) contains a presumption, unless the contrary is proved, as to the accuracy of statements in the note as to the number of packages, their marks and numbers and their apparent order and condition, provided no reservation has been entered in respect of any of these statements. The presumption is, however, rebuttable, in contrast to the conclusive evidence provisions of the Hague-Visby Rules and COGSA 1992 which enure to the benefit of third parties.
