Goldby, Miriam --- "International Law on the Carriage of Goods by Sea: UNCITRAL’s Most Recent Harmonisation Efforts" [2012] ELECD 352; in Andenas, Mads; Andersen, Baasch Camilla (eds), "Theory and Practice of Harmonisation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Theory and Practice of Harmonisation

Editor(s): Andenas, Mads; Andersen, Baasch Camilla

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849800013

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: International Law on the Carriage of Goods by Sea: UNCITRAL’s Most Recent Harmonisation Efforts

Author(s): Goldby, Miriam

Number of pages: 14

Extract:

8. International law on the carriage of
goods by sea: UNCITRAL's most
recent harmonisation efforts
Miriam Goldby*

INTRODUCTION
In the course of its forty-first Session in New York which took place between 16
June and 3 July 2008, the United Nations Commission on International Trade
Law (UNCITRAL) adopted a decision whereby it submitted the final draft of a
new Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly
or Partly by Sea to the United Nations General Assembly for its consideration
with a view to adoption.1 The adoption by the General Assembly took place on
11 December of the same year. A signing ceremony was held in Rotterdam in
2009 and the Convention became known as the `Rotterdam Rules'.2 To date,
24 states have signed the Convention, one of which, Spain, has also ratified it.
The Convention was drafted by UNCITRAL's Working Group III on Trans-
port Law in collaboration with the Comité Maritime International (CMI). This
is the fourth international convention on this subject which has been produced
since 1924, the first three being the International Convention for the Unification
of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading 1924 (Hague Rules), the
Hague Rules as Amended by the Brussels Protocol 1968 (Hague-Visby Rules)
and the UN Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea 1978 (Hamburg
Rules). These Conventions aim to regulate the rights and obligations of parties
to contracts for the carriage of goods by sea, contracts whereby party ...