CargoCap – A legal framework of the underground
transport of piece goods
Martin Burgi, Ruhr-University Bochum,
Germany
The underground transport system CargoCap breaks also from a legal point of view new ground. Since there has never been such a mean of transport before there does not exist any specific legal regulation in Germany.
That the future
will bring the development of an appropriate law cannot be foreseen yet, but
one cannot rule out the possibility either. The development of the railway for
example, which also used to be an absolutely new way of transport, shows that
innovative ideas can find a specific legal embodiment. In the case of the
railway this is the “General Railway Law”. The very first legislation in this area
was the “Law of the railway undertakings” also called the “Prussian Railway
Law” in the year 1838, which moreover led the way. This law came into force
three years after the very first railway line was opened between Nürnberg and
Fürth on the 7th of December in 1835. One can see that the Prussian
legislator has recognised quite early the appropriateness if not the necessity
of a general regulation.[1]
But such a legislation for CargoCap is still very much in the future. Therefore it is necessary to take the existing legal norms into consideration when it comes to the examination of the legal questions.
In the following
an overview of the relevant legal aspects shall be given, as there are:
·
the legal classification of CargoCap,
·
the building of the pipelines and the distribution stations,
·
the selection of a suitable operator form.
[1] Püttner, in: Grupp/Ronellfitsch (ed.), Planung – Recht – Rechtsschutz, Festschrift für Blümel, Berlin 1999, S. 468.