Nature of Claim Time Bar
Contract Claims | Carriage of goods by sea: 2 years from the date in which the carriage concluded or should have concluded (Commercial Code, art. 993). |
Tortious Claims | 10 years from the date the tort was committed (Civil Code, art. 2536) |
General Average | 1 year from the date of the voyage termination (Commercial Code, art. 1528). |
Assistance and Salvage | 2 years from the date the assistant or salvage works terminated (Commercial Code, art. 1554). |
Collision | 2 years from the date of the accident (Commercial Code, art. 1539). |
Latent damage claims (for negligence claims excluding personal injury) | Contract: 5 years from the date the claimant had knowledge of the breach of contract by the other party causing the loss, or date when he ought reasonably to have known of his loss as a result of the other party's breach (Civil Code, art. 2536). |
Fraud | The general rule is that time bar is equal to the maximum imprisonment penalty fixed by the law, but never inferior to 5 year nor in excess of 20 years, with some exceptions (genocide, crimes against humanity, for example). There are different types of fraud with different imprisonment penalties in the criminal code: But the penalty for ordinary fraud is 2 to 8 years. |