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Background
An increasingly complex international scenario involving a variety of international regimes and the proposed changes to the US Carriage of Goods by Sea Act has prompted the Maritime Transport Committee to look into existing cargo liability regimes. The Committee has sought to identify elements of existing cargo liability regimes (principally the Hague-Visby and the Hamburg Rules) for which there is no general agreement, and to find workable formulations that would allow them to be included in an instrument that would be broadly acceptable to all parties.
Workshop on Cargo Liability
A Workshop took place in January 2001 where government and industry participants discussed, on the basis of a consultant's report, possible areas of convergence which may open the way to achieving a modernisation of current regimes. The outcomes offer some guidance as to the policies that may be necessary to maximise the formulation of a more comprehensive, and generally acceptable, form of cargo liability regime. If nothing else, they may offer guidance on alternative texts that may be available in order in the end to arrive at acceptable compromise solutions. The report on the Workshop's deliberations has been made freely available to governments, industry and other international organisations that have an interest in marine cargo liability to assist them in their future deliberations.
In particular, the MTC has supported the work on cargo liability undertaken by the Comité Maritime International (CMI), which is working in conjunction with the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) to prepare the form of a new regime as part of broader work on transport documentation. The MTC Secretariat participated at the CMI's conference held in February 2001 which considered cargo liability issues. Note:
The main Conventions that apply to sea cargo are:
- Hague Rules of 1924:
- UN Hamburg Rules of 1978.
- UN Multimodal Convention of 1980.
- UN Convention on the Liability of Operators of Transport Terminals in International Trade of 1991.
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