Electronic transport and forwarding documents as evidence of the conclusion and performance of the cargo transport contract

The digitalization of transport document circulation in Russia has moved beyond the experimental stage: since September 1, 2022, the state information system of electronic transport documents (GIS EPD) has been in effect, and from September 1, 2026, the electronic form of the transport waybill, order, application, and forwarding documents will generally become mandatory. This shifts the focus to the electronic transport waybill (ETW), electronic transport contract, and electronic forwarding documents. The objective of this research is to determine the evidential value of electronic transport and forwarding documents in establishing the fact and moment of conclusion of the cargo transport contract and the circumstances of performance – transferring the cargo to the carrier, delivering it to the recipient, and fulfilling related forwarding obligations. Electronic transport and forwarding documents form evidence with a complex internal structure; the moment of conclusion of the transport contract in the digital environment is established with regard to the specific norm about the transport waybill, general rules on contract conclusion, and the actual sequence of file exchanges. The authors studied the legal norms of civil, transport, forwarding, and procedural legislation, subordinate regulatory acts on the exchange of electronic transport and forwarding documents, courts' case law, and recent scientific publications were used. A formal-legal, systemic-structural, comparative-legal, and technical-legal methods were applied. The research focus has shifted from the infrastructure reform of GIS EPD to the contractual-evidential aspect: the electronic document is considered not just as a digital duplicate of a paper form but as composite evidence connecting a written document, electronic signature, machine-readable data, statuses of the information system, and the record of obligation performance. It is justified that the ETW confirms the conclusion of the transport contract; however, the evidential composition is not limited to the visual representation of the waybill; a five-step model for evaluating the electronic document as evidence and an author's classification of disputes around ETW and electronic forwarding documents are proposed. The results of the research are applicable by carriers, shippers, consignees, forwarders, operators of the EPD IS, and courts in building an evidential position in disputes regarding the conclusion of the contract, the scope of obligations, the fact of acceptance and delivery of the cargo, reservations, and payment.