AIYON collaborates with the ‘Diario del Puerto’ in its report ‘Legal Allies’

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The special report entitled ‘Legal Allies’, recently published by the specialised newspaper of the logistics and transport sector, ‘Diario del Puerto’, has counted on the collaboration of our colleagues Verónica Meana and Zuberoa Elorriaga, among other professionals of the sector.

After analysing the various questions posed to us, which covered different aspects of our work and included our vision for the future in the face of new challenges, we discussed aspects such as the value of advice and prevention in conflict areas, the most common deficiencies and lack of knowledge in the sector, the role we play as lawyers and its importance in the transport sector, as well as the future challenges facing the world of transport, our lawyers provided their perspective, based on their broad and varied experience.

For her part, Zuberoa Elorriaga commented that the lack of the proper coordination and joint vision that should exist between the purchase and sale operation and the subsequent transport operation can give rise to claims and disputes, which could be avoided with good prior advice. We are talking about both the logistics operation and the insurance that accompanies it.

It considers that the transport phase must be highlighted as an essential complement that complements and perfects the sale and purchase from which it derives. Therefore, correct management of routes and delivery times to avoid delays or damage to the goods is essential, a task that always involves a cost if we want to guarantee a correct service at the hands of professionals.

Verónica Meana, in turn, explained that the EU’s growing demands to reduce emissions are forcing the transport sector to look for alternatives, such as the use of electric vehicles or cleaner fuels. All of this is causing concern among operators about the high costs of adapting their fleets, whether by sea, air or land, which will be required by the new regulation.

In addition, she points out that the delay in adopting digital solutions for optimising operations or complying with environmental regulations, and the lack of robustly implemented protocols among employees of transport companies to make them less susceptible to cyber-attacks, are factors that can be improved with good research and planning.

Access to the publication…

AIYON Abogados, a Decade at the Service of Maritime and Transport Law

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‘El Canal Marítimo y Logístico’ took advantage of the celebration of the annual meeting of AIYON Abogados S.L.P. to meet in Bilbao with the five partners of the firm. Close to celebrating 10 years in the market, each of them pointed out the strengths of their multidisciplinary team of lawyers, as well as the different challenges they face on a daily basis from their offices located in Madrid, Cadiz, Bilbao and Algeciras.

We invite you to rea the article in its entirety from the link at the end of this article, highlighting below some of the statements made by the partners.

As expert lawyers in chartering and leasing of vessels, both for general cargo and project cargo, AIYON has also been specializing in off.shore construction projects. In this regard, AIYON’s partner in Bilbao, Mikel Garteiz-goxeaskoa, states, ‘This experience has given us the opportunity to assist from our Bilbao office local companies such as SAITEC Offshore Technologies, S.L., in projects as innovative as the launching and installation of its DemoSATH floating offshore wind platform in the BIMEP test area (Armintza), in the open sea two miles off the coast, and in waters 90 meters deep, as AIYON aspires to be a benchmark for companies operating in this sector due to its in-depth knowledge of Maritime Law in all its areas’.

With regard to the specific offshore wind sector, Mikel Garteiz-goxeaskoa highlights the firm’s strengths: ‘In addition to our knowledge and experience, we also have a large international network of collaborating lawyers, also specialized in these matters, mainly from the United Kingdom and Northern Europe. This allows us to rely at all times on up-to-date professionals in their respective jurisdictions to resolve any issued that may arise in the negotiation of the contracts concerned.’

When asked about their latest performances in Madrid, the firm’s partner, Verónica Meana, points our that: ‘We have recently seen in the office a notable increase in the number of cases that are resolved in institutional arbitration in these matters, either under CIAM or ICC rules, compared to the percentage of cases that go to court, which is still higher. This increase, although independent, runs parallel to the firm’s involvement in the Maritime Law working group within the Spanish Maritime Law Association in collaborating with CIAM, in an effort to promote maritime arbitration in Spain as an efficient and quality alternative means of dispute resolution.’

AIYON’s involvement in the teaching and preparation of the new generations is part of its hallmark, a fact that Verónica wants to highlight: ‘On the other hand, form Madrid, as from the rest of our offices, we continue to contribute to the teaching of maritime law. In my case, participating as a lecturer in the Master’s degree of both the IME (Spanish Maritime Institute) and the ISDE (Higher Institute of Law and Economics) in the subjects of maritime law and land transport.’

‘In Aiyon we know what it means to be at the side of both maritime and land carriers on a daily basis’, says Enrique Ortiz, partner of the Cadiz office. ‘And we know what it is like to be there for them both in normal circumstances and in urgent situations that require quick action (such as refusals of delivery by receivers, accidents, blocking of the means of transport by the authorities, etc.). What’s more, in exceptional circumstances, such as during the Covid confinement period or during the road transport stoppages and strikes that took place throughout the country between March and April 2022, our customers have always been able to counts on us.’

In fact, the situation in times of strikes and stoppages in the transport sector was not easy for the companies dedicated to land transport, and many of them, due to the convulsions of the time, even suffered damage to their vehicles caused by a group of people who, in favour of the strike during those dates, ‘took it’, in an absolutely vehement manner, against the vehicles in question. In relation to these events, which occurred to a significant number of road haulage companies and vehicles, Enrique can confirm that AIYON has recently managed to obtain, for one of its clients, a favourable ruling in the first instance, subject to appeal, against the Insurance Compensation Consortium, ensuring that concepts such as ‘riot’ and ‘extraordinary risk’ are not emptied of content, thereby rendering ineffective the coverage of claims that correspond to the Insurance Compensation Consortium. Let us not forget that the Consortium collects part of the premiums that insured hauliers pay to their insurance companies.

Asked about the great activity of the Port of Algeciras, our partner in the location, José Domínguez, tells us: ‘The port of Algeciras occupies a pre-eminent position within the Spanish port system. From our office in Algeciras, we provide ‘dockside’ assistance to shipping companies that provide passenger and goods transport services, both containers and roll-on/roll-off cargo in the Strait of Gibraltar, constantly advising not only in the day-to-day handling of all types of cargo and passengers claims, but also in the planning and management phases of the shipping companies to face challenges such as those of the so-called Operation Crossing the Strait (OPE). To this end, we regularly advise on charterparties, slot charters, shipbuilding and ship repair contracts, ancillary contracts and agreements such as stevedoring, confinement, etc. This is a part of the business that I particularly enjoy, as my background as a merchant seafarer is of great help to our clients, as I speak the same language as they do.’

Another of the most important traffics of Algeciras is the supply of fuel to ships, the so-called bunkering. Domínguez indicates in this respect that: ‘Algeciras is one of the most important bunkering ports in the Mediterranean. The maritime traffic through the Strait of Gibraltar, together with the magnificent anchorage of the port, make our port especially attractive for this type of operations. The figures that are handled are very relevant, close to 350,000 tons of oil products to ships, at a rate of approximately 200 ships supplied per month by a fleet of more than 15 barges of different sizes.’

For her part, Zuberoa Elorriaga, AIYON partner in Bilbao, points out that, in their almost 10 years as active partners, the common effort and trajectory has brought them together, allowing them to learn from each other: ‘Together with the rest of the firm’s staff, we form a close-knit team that encourages cooperation between offices and lawyers. It is not an easy sector as we face different challenges every day, with often complex cases and different actors involved, so the best way to work is to support each other and share experiences, which will always result in a better service for our clients.’

Finally, Zuberoa makes special mention of the continuous learning that the firm’s team is committed to pursuing, proof of which is the Postgraduate Course in Aeronautics and Space Law at the Faculty of Law (ICADE) of the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, which she completed in 2021, opening up new areas of activity for the firm.

Listening to its partners, it is clear that in Aiyon Abogados they face this first decade of work and common effort as the beginning of a long and productive professional career looking to the future with optimism.

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Resolution of 22 May 2023 of the Directorate General for Land Transport – Systems and Requirements to Be Met by Electronic Administrative Control Documents in Road Transport

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In this article we would like to highlight the content of the Resolution of 22 May 2023, issued by the Directorate General for Land Transport, which establishes the requirements and systems that must be met by administrative control documents in electronic format for road transport in Spain, derived from Article 222.2 of the Regulation of the Land Transport Law. Article which, in accordance with Royal Decree 1211/1990, of 28 September, and its subsequent modifications, establishes the essential characteristics that the supports and computer applications used for the completion and management of this transport documentation must have.

Previously, in order to ensure that control documentation in electronic format meets the characteristics of availability, integrity, inalterability and inviolability of its content, as well as to determine the way in which copies of this control documentation must be obtained by the personnel of the Inspection Services and the agents of the transport surveillance forces when they are issued using electronic means, the Directorate General issued the Resolution of 13 February 2020, which established the characteristics that the administrative control documents in electronic format required in road transport must meet, which has now been repealed.

Thus, having established a new method of communication of the data collected in the various control documents, it was considered necessary to extend the new methods of communication to facilitate the activity of the hauliers themselves, reducing the administrative burden for drivers and companies.

The main requirements highlighted in the Resolution of 22 May 2023 include:

a) Characteristics of Computer Supports and Applications:

  • Accessibility for all eligible parties.
  • Ensuring secure storage and effective transmission of documents.
  • Specific requirements for electronic signatures: ensuring their binding to the signatory, identification, exclusive control and detection of modifications.

b) Systems and Requirements for Control by Inspection Services:

  • Implementation of two modalities: via numerical code with subsequent electronic delivery, or via QR code leading to a PDF repository.
  • Technical standards such as PDF/A format and size limitations (up to 4 MB).
  • Prior obligation to communicate the domain of storage and exclusive use of HTTPS connections by companies.

In any case, we must emphasise that the main objective of this regulation is to optimise the administrative management of road transport, ensuring the integrity, inalterability, inviolability of its content and availability of the required documentation.

The explicit repeal of the previous Resolution of 13 February 2020 only underlines the continuous updating and adaptation of sectoral regulations to technological developments and the operational needs of land transport. This sector is continuously evolving in order to facilitate trade between countries when it requires an agile and efficient means of transport, such as land transport.

UNIPORTBILBAO highlights in its Newsletter the article by AIYON on the Sanctioning Power of the DGMM

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We would like to thank UNIPORTBILBAO – Port Community for including in its April Newsletter our article on the sanctioning power of the Directorate General of the Merchant Navy (DGMM), content that we published last February on our website.

AIYON Abogados, as a member of UNIPORTBILBAO, has been collaborating for several years with this multimodal logistics cluster founded in 1994, which was born from a group of public and private companies in the Basque Country whose objective is to promote, through cooperation, the competitive improvement and promotion of the PORT OF BILBAO and the companies and services related or linked to the port and its daily operations.

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“ESTRATEGIA EMPRESARIAL”, echoes our almost 9 years of experience in the market

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As a firm founded in 2015 in Bilbao, the publication highlights our multidisciplinary team of eight expert lawyers, valuing our comprehensive 360º legal advice. 

With a proven impact at national level acting from our four offices located in Bilbao, Cadiz, Madrid and Algeciras, with which we cover strategic areas for the transport and logistics sector, ESTRETAGIA EMPRESARIAL also highlights the fact that we have all kinds of collaborators at national and international level that help us to cover all the demands for advice and assistance that our clients may have anywhere in the world.

Likewise, the publication points out our commitment to disseminate all kinds of legislative and jurisprudential developments related to the logistics sector, both in terms of maritime law, transport law in general, insurance and national and international trade via our conferences, talks to clients or the two corporate websites: www.aiyon.es and shiparrestrelease.com.

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ASETRABI counts on its collaborator, AIYON Lawyers, to analyse safety and efficiency in road transport

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On 30 October, the Bizkaia Transport Business Association, ASETRABI, held a conference on efficient driving and load stowage, with speakers including our partner in Bilbao, Zuberoa Elorriaga, as well as Andoni Gortazar, representing the Institute for Load Safety (ISEC), among other professionals from the land transport sector. This is an entity with which our firm also collaborates.

As part of the interesting training sessions that ASETRABI is holding this autumn in Bilbao, all of them of great interest due to the topics covered (loading and stowage, driving efficiency, decarbonisation, alternative fuels, etc.), on this occasion AIYON Abogados has been involved to explain to the participants of the event the complexity of the tasks and actions related to loading and stowage on lorries, all from a legal point of view.

For her part, Zuberoa tried to convey to the listeners the legal vision of stevedoring offered by the applicable international and national regulations, as well as the jurisprudential interpretation made by Spanish judges of the different regulations, always assessed on a case-by-case basis. This is because the extensive experience accumulated by our firm in more than eight years of activity always offers our lawyers a direct contact with the problems, as well as with each of our clients. This allows us to have a very close, as well as practical, view of the problems experienced in the road transport sector from all angles (shippers, receivers, carriers, insurance, etc.), which enables us to provide an appropriate and personalised solution in each of the consultancy services we offer.

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AIYON Abogados Moves to New Office in Algeciras

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AIYON Abogados recently gathered in Algeciras part of its team of eight professionals from its offices in Madrid, Bilbao, Cadiz and Algeciras to inaugurate its new location in Algeciras and to share with its customers in the Algeciras enclave the good news that always comes with the opening of new facilities and the incorporation of a new professional to the team, as is the case of Rocío López.

Along with local lawyers Jose Antonio Domínguez and Rocío López, the event was attended by partners Mikel Garteiz-goxeaskoa and Zuberoa Elorriaga, from the Bilbao office; Madrid partner Verónica Meana; and partner and head of Cádiz, Enrique Ortiz, with his colleague Pablo Sánchez.

José Antonio Domínguez, director of the Algeciras office, frames these new developments in the firm’s commitment to improve the service provided to its clients in the area of influence of the Port of Algeciras, among which are shipowners, insurance companies, inland hauliers, forwarding agents, shipping agents, logistics operators, stevedores, shippers and, in general, all types of companies dedicated to international trade and the transport of goods.

“The strategic importance of Algeciras, where our clients have a very important presence, justifies the growth of our team and the improvement of our facilities,” says José Antonio Domínguez, partner in charge of the office.

Algeciras, a strategic location
As one of the most important ports in Spain and located on one of the strategic routes for international trade, the Port of Algeciras is key both for North-South traffic, with an abundant flow of goods to and from Morocco on the various ro-ro shipping lines operating in the Strait of Gibraltar, and for East-West traffic on the major containerised goods traffic routes, being an important hub port.

Algeciras is, on the other hand, a very important bunker or bunkering port in the Mediterranean, with shipyards and an anchorage where ships can make provisions or carry out repairs of all kinds.

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AIJA is held in Athens (Greece) with one of our lawyers as speaker

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As planned, the AIJA (International Association of Young Lawyers) Transport Seminar took place in Athens on 14-16 September.

It was a joint event in which the Arbitration Commission and the Public Procedure Commission also participated, bringing together more than 150 young international lawyers. Among them were our colleagues from AIYON Algeciras and AIYON Bilbao, Rocío López and Irantzu Sedano respectively. The latter is an active member of AIJA.

Both lawyers enjoyed six conferences dealing with relevant and topical issues in the transport sector, with the contribution of more than twenty professionals and experts in the field. Among them, the talk on “Blockchain”, “Double Twins” and Autonomous Transport, in which our colleague Irantzu Sedano actively participated as a speaker along with other colleagues from the association, deserves special mention.

In addition to the conferences and the work carried out by the commissions, the participants were also able to enjoy a wide range of leisure and local culture in their free time.

We would like to thank AIJA, and the entire organising committee of the event, for their work and dedication in carrying out this type of international event, which undoubtedly contributes to enriching greatly the transport sector and the professionals that make it up.

Practical Application of the Law on Late Payment in Land Transport (Law 13/2021)

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The partial amendment of the Land Transport Law for the purpose of combating late payment in the field of road freight transport by application of the content of Law 13/2021, of 1 October, arose, among other reasons, from the need to solve the problem of late payment of commercial transactions in Spain, which amounts, let us remember, to an average of 90 days and is therefore in breach of the European regulations applicable to these transactions.

With effect from 3 October 2021 and on the general basis that any agreement on payment terms longer than 60 days can be considered null and void, even in companies belonging to the same group, this law creates a new type of offence providing for penalties for those cases in which the legal maximum payment limit is not respected and therefore does not comply with the provisions of Law 13/2021 (article 4) and the Land Transport Law (article 140).

Having said that, we can currently state that this regulation is already having tangible practical consequences, as in Aiyon we have had several consultations related to administrative sanctioning proceedings initiated by the General Directorate of Land Transport against road transport companies, in their capacity as subcontractors of land transport with other effective carriers.

Thus, following inspections carried out locally by the Administration in certain land transport companies, it has been observed that their contractors did not pay the invoices issued for their services within this 60-day period, which is why the inspection has initiated infringement proceedings against the debtors, warning them of this breach of the applicable regulations.

Administrative sanctioning proceedings which, although they can be defended, do not leave much room for refuting the position of the administrative inspector since, when this legal limit is exceeded within the different parameters for calculating the sixty days, little can be said in defence of the debtor’s position.

The fact that there is an agreement, express or implied, between the two carriers involved to relax this time limit upwards, or that there is a prior dispute between shipper and contract carrier that prevents the contract carrier from charging for the carriage, which could be considered a reason to condition the payment of its service to the actual carrier, we do not consider these to be valid excuses in law to justify the use of a longer payment period.

Once the accounts of a transport company have been randomly inspected, or after a complaint by the creditor, the Directorate General for Land Transport will notify those companies that have paid invoices outside the legal deadline of the initiation of the corresponding sanctioning procedure against them, proposing penalties which, in our experience, have ranged between € 2, 001.00 and € 3,000.00  (depending on different factors such as the excess over 60 days, the number of invoices pending payment, etc.), being classified as very serious offences under the Land Transport Law.

In view of the above, it is important to remind operators of the importance of respecting this regulation and of always regularising outstanding payments to road hauliers within the non-mandatory legal deadline (60 days), establishing internally adequate measures to avoid being sanctioned now or in the future.

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Protocol to the Agreement on the International Occasional Carriage of Passengers by Coach and Bus (Interbus Agreement)

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As we know, the policies of the European Union and its contracting states always and everywhere promote international passenger transport in and through Europe.

It is a fact that European tourism has been increasing for years and continues to grow. The contracting parties to the Protocol to the Agreement on the International Occasional Carriage of Passengers by Coach and Bus have therefore extended the scope of application of the Interbus Agreement to include regular services and special regular services under certain conditions, as it has hitherto covered only occasional services.

This new Agreement has been negotiated between the European Commission and other fourteen third countries outside the European Union, thus regulating transport between the EU and these signatory countries.

The main features of the Agreement include the following:

  1. The liberalisation of regular services, and regular services subject to authorisation, should apply only to services to or from the contracting party of establishment of the road transport operator in which his vehicles are registered.

As a general rule, regular services shall be available worldwide, subject to compliance with the obligation to settle where appropriate.

  1. Regular or scheduled services to and from the same Contracting Party may not be operated by carriers established in another Contracting Party.
  2. They are extended to regular services, which are services that ensure the transport of persons with a specified frequency and route. These services can pick up and set down passengers at predetermined stops.

Special regular services mean regular services which provide for the carriage of specified categories of passengers to the exclusion of other passengers. These services shall include, inter alia, carriage to and from the place of work for workers and carriage to and from the educational institution for school pupils and students.

  1. The principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of nationality or place of establishment of the transport operator, and of the origin or destination of the coach or bus, and/or of the service provided, is prioritised as a basis for the provision of international road passenger transport services.
  2. It is necessary for the Contracting Parties to apply uniform social measures concerning the work of crews of buses and coaches engaged in international road transport, which are governed by the rules enshrined in the Interbus Convention, to which this Protocol should refer.
  3. The technical conditions applicable to buses and coaches operating international services between the contracting parties should be harmonised and should be governed by the rules enshrined in the Interbus Agreement.
  4. Carriers established in the European Union require an authorisation issued by the competent authority of the Member State of origin or destination of the transport.

Authorisations shall be issued in the name of the carrier and shall not be transferable.

The maximum period of validity of the authorisations shall be 5 years, and the minimum content of the authorisation shall include aspects such as: the type of service; the route; the period of validity of the authorisations; the stops and timetables.

These modifications are just some of the new guidelines for action implemented by the European Union to continue promoting cultural exchanges between the contracting parties to this