The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (commonly known as the Rotterdam Rules) is intended to extend and modernise the existing international rules governing the carriage of goods by sea whilst protecting the cargo interest from unfair conditions of carriage. The two largest areas where the Rules have attempted to bring the legal environment in line with current practice are recognising containerisation of transported goods and treating paper and electronic documents the same. It also addresses issues such as freight, delivery of the goods, rights of the controlling party, transfer of rights and rights of suit, which were not previously governed by mandatory law.
Proponents believe that these rules provide greater clarity regarding who is responsible for what, when and where in maritime transport and how far these responsibilities extend. However, there are those who oppose the Rules. Some argue that the proposed benefits due to greater uniformity of practice might be lost through divergent national implementations. Others are concerned that the Rules go beyond the established margins of a maritime convention (they are not fully multimodal, but are what has been termed as ‘maritime plus’ and therefore may conflict with existing Conventions for other modes). There are also more practical concerns about the limits of carrier liabilities under the Rules and potentially disproportionate benefits for larger companies.
The issues involved are complex and raise many sector specific concerns. At the moment the UK is adopting a neutral position and has not yet signed up. A formal consultation is due to be published by the Department for Transport early in 2010.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 70, Autumn 2009
