The author analyses the premise for carrier liability for damage to the goods, the so-called “time relation in carriage.” The author tires to specify the time frame, relevant from the point of view of application of provisions on carrier liability for the condition of the goods to be carried, under national and international legislation that regulates the carriage contract. The author also analyses the problem of the burden of proof in a time relation in carriage under the general rule of the burden of proof in civil law and presumptions in regulations on the carriage contract. The relevant discussion enables conclusions on the legal nature of the time relation in carriage as the case of a non-causal normative relation.