Parcels pile up around a holiday, and so do the accidents. But the first thing settled in a parcel claim is not the amount - it is whether you can still claim at all. Art. 146(1) of Korea's Commercial Act opens like this: "the carrier's liability is extinguished when the consignee receives the goods without reservation and pays the freight and other charges." Signing for it can end the matter on the spot. The proviso that follows is the rest of this article.
1. Take it without reservation and the liability ends there. Except that damage or partial loss you could not have found at once survives if you send notice within 2 weeks of receiving it (proviso to art. 146(1)).
2. A valuable is not covered unless you declare it. Art. 136 - liability arises "only where the kind and value are stated". Not a lower cap; outside it.
3. Damages run on the price at destination, not what you paid. Total loss or delay uses the day it should have arrived; partial loss or damage the day it did (art. 137(1),(2)).
It can end the moment you take it - except for 2 weeks
Art. 146(1) in full: "the carrier's liability is extinguished when the consignee or holder of the bill of lading receives the goods without reservation and pays the freight and other charges. However, where the goods have damage or partial loss that could not be discovered immediately, this shall not apply if notice is dispatched to the carrier within 2 weeks of the day the goods were received."
Three phrases carry the weight. First, "without reservation". A reservation is not a procedure but a line - writing "not checked" or "box damaged" on the receipt or in the app's signature box. Second, "could not be discovered immediately". An intact box with a broken thing inside is the case: it must have been unknowable before opening for the 2 weeks to open. Third, "dispatched". What counts is sending, not arriving, so the last day of the 2 weeks still works.
Then art. 146(2): "the preceding paragraph shall not apply where the carrier or its employee acted in bad faith." If the carrier knew and concealed it, the extinguishing rule does not apply at all.
The outer fence is the limitation period. Art. 147 applies art. 121, so the carrier's liability is extinguished one year after the day the consignee received the goods. Where the goods are lost entirely, the year runs from the day they should have been delivered (art. 121(2)). Bad faith takes it outside this rule too (art. 121(3)).
A valuable is covered only if you declare it
Art. 136 is short: "as regards money, securities and other valuables, the carrier is liable for loss only where the consignor states their kind and value when entrusting the carriage."
"Only where" is the whole provision. Without the statement, the damages are not reduced - as a valuable, there is no liability at all. The familiar line about a cap when no value is declared belongs to the standard parcel terms; this provision stands separately, underneath them.
Where it is declared, art. 135 engages: "the carrier is liable for loss, damage or delay unless it proves that neither it nor those it used for the carriage was careless in receiving, delivering, storing and carrying the goods." The party who must prove is the carrier. The recipient does not have to show fault.
So when something valuable goes out around a holiday, there is one thing to do: write the item and the amount on the waybill. One line opens the provision.
Damages run on the price at destination
Art. 137 sets the measure, and its four paragraphs say four different things.
| What happened | The measure | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Total loss or delay | price at destination on the day it should have arrived | art. 137(1) |
| Partial loss or damage | price at destination on the day it did arrive | art. 137(2) |
| Intent or gross negligence | all losses | art. 137(3) |
| Freight and charges not incurred | deducted from the damages | art. 137(4) |
Two things stand out. One is the word "destination" - not the price where it was sent from, and not the figure on your receipt. The other is that paragraphs 1 and 2 use different days. If it never came, the day it should have; if part of it was spoiled, the day it did. For anything whose price moves, that single day changes the number.
Paragraph 3 is different in kind. Where intent or gross negligence is established, it passes those measures entirely and reaches all losses - not just the value of the goods but what actually followed from losing them.
So what do you do when it arrives
Put what the provisions ask for in order and it comes to this.
| When | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sending | the item and its value on the waybill | art. 136 - without it a valuable is outside liability |
| At the door | if the outside looks wrong, one line of reservation | art. 146(1) - taking it without one extinguishes the claim |
| After opening | dispatch notice within 2 weeks | proviso to art. 146(1) - what you could not see at once |
| After that | claim within 1 year | art. 147 → art. 121 - the limitation period |
Photographs are not in the statute, but when "could not be discovered immediately" and "the price at destination" are argued over, records are what remain. The outside of the box, the unpacking, the contents - taken in a way that keeps the date, they shorten the explanation later.
Questions that remain
It was left at the door and disappeared.
Then there was no "receipt without reservation", so the extinguishing rule of art. 146(1) is not in play. Whether delivery occurred at all becomes the question instead, and that turns on the contract and the facts - these provisions alone do not answer it.
The 2 weeks have passed and I have only just found it.
The proviso names 2 weeks. But art. 146(2) disapplies paragraph 1 entirely where the carrier or its employee acted in bad faith, so if there are signs it was known and concealed, that route remains. The limitation period is 1 year.
Who claims - the sender or the recipient?
Art. 146 makes the consignee's receipt the trigger for extinguishment, while art. 136 asks the consignor to state the value. The statute gives the two of them different jobs.
What about the cap in the standard parcel terms?
That belongs to the standard terms approved by the Fair Trade Commission. This article reads the Commercial Act only - the terms actually applied vary by carrier, so check the back of the waybill or that carrier's own terms alongside this.
Sources
Korean Law Information Center, Commercial Act - statute text - art. 135 (liability and the burden of proof), art. 136 (valuables), art. 137(1)-(4) (measure of damages), art. 146(1),(2) (extinguishment of the carrier's liability), art. 147 (application by reference) and, through it, art. 121 (limitation).
Every quotation is from the statute as written. "Without reservation", "could not be discovered immediately", "within 2 weeks", "dispatched", "only where the kind and value are stated", and the two different days of arts. 137(1) and (2) are the Commercial Act's own words.
Left for another day
The standard parcel terms. Approved by the Fair Trade Commission rather than enacted, and left out here.
Where "could not be discovered immediately" ends. It turns on the case, and the statute sets no test.
When a doorstep delivery counts as delivered. A matter of the contract and the facts.
Based on the 2026 provisions. The 2 weeks, the 1 year and every quotation are the Commercial Act's; the four-step table is our arrangement. Real cases turn on the terms and the facts together, so for anything substantial, speak to the Korea Consumer Agency (1372) or a lawyer.
