International haulage

You leave Spain.
So does the document.

The same consignment note you already issue, with what you need once you cross the border. You tick ‘international’ and the boxes the Convention adds appear. It is signed on the phone and shown with the QR code, as always.

40

countries where your note on the phone counts the same as on paper. 22 of them are in the European Union.

Counted one by one in the United Nations treaty register on 18 August 2026. There are 42 States party, but two do not enter into force until the autumn and we do not count those.

What changes compared with a domestic carriage

The app adds the first one on its own, without you having to know it exists. The other three are boxes you fill in if they apply to your carriage. The only one that blocks issuing is the ADR box, because without it the lorry stays at the border.

The sentence that saves you the bill

An international note has to carry one specific sentence. If it is missing, you pay the expenses that causes. It is always printed, in Spanish and English. Nobody has to remember it.

Put on record what is not down to you

Did the customer load and stow the goods? Was the packaging defective? Is it travelling in an open vehicle because that was agreed and is stated on the note? Tick it when you issue: if there is damage and you can establish that it could have arisen from that risk, it is presumed that it did, and it falls to the claimant to prove otherwise (art. 18.2 of the Convention). This is not an automatic exemption — it admits proof to the contrary — but it shifts the burden of proof to the other side. Almost nobody fills this box in.

What they ask for at the border

Customs, the documents you hand over, cash on delivery, time limit, declared value, the leg that travels by ship or rail. Only the ones you use are printed: what you leave blank does not appear.

In two languages, for the roadside check

The boxes of the Convention are printed in Spanish and English — the parties, the places, the goods, the consignee and the reservations — so that a foreign officer knows what they are reading. If you carry dangerous goods, ADR also requires their designation to be given in English: the app asks you for it and will not let you issue without it.

Where the electronic version counts

In these countries the note on the phone has the same value as the one on paper. They are the ones for which the agreement is already in force — signing it is not enough: it has to be ratified and then enter into force:

European Union (22)

Germany · Austria · Bulgaria · Czechia · Denmark · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Estonia · Finland · France · Greece · Hungary · Italy · Latvia · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Netherlands · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Sweden

Rest of Europe (9)

United Kingdom · Switzerland · Norway · Türkiye · Ukraine · Moldova · Albania · North Macedonia · Belarus

Outside Europe (9)

Armenia · Azerbaijan · Russia · Kyrgyzstan · Tajikistan · Turkmenistan · Uzbekistan · Iran · Oman

Entering into force this autumn

Montenegro (from 4 October 2026) · Serbia (from 2 November 2026)

The small print, in large type