The Rotterdam Rules And International Trade Law

This book offers an original academic study of the Rotterdam Rules. It analyses the salient articles that will have an impact on international sale contracts governed by English law, including the most popularly used international law instruments, terms and standard sale contracts. Looking beyond the legal relationship of carrier-shipper and carrier-receiver, this book examines the important articles of the Rotterdam Rules that affect the ability of the trading protagonists to perform their sale contract.

International Trade Law offers a clear overview of the complexities of an international sale transaction through informed analysis of case law, legislation, and international conventions and rules. Fully updated with changes to the law and new directions in legal debate, this new edition considers: Standard trade terms including INCOTERMS 2010, the Convention on International Sales of Goods 1980 and the UNIDROIT Principles for International Commercial Contracts E-Commerce issues, including electronic bills of lading Insurance and payment mechanisms, such as letters of credit and the UCP 600 International transportation of cargo, including the Rotterdam Rules Dispute resolution (including jurisdiction, applicable law, arbitration and mediation), with particular reference to the relevant EU regulations and the developing case-law thereon Corruption and anti-corruption conventions, including the UK Bribery Act 2010 and developments relating to deferred prosecution agreements In addition to clarifying a range of topics through tables and diagrams, the book directs readers to relevant further reading and online resources throughout, offering students an accessible resource to this often challenging area of the law.

The regime governing the carriage of goods by sea has been for a long time the subject of criticism, such as for being out of date, fragmented, uncoordinated with other related transport regimes, leading to unpredictable results, or posing obstacles to the development of modern contract practices. The Hamburg Rules, prepared in 1978 with a view to improving the situation, have in the meantime entered into force but fell short of expectations in that they have not become a basis for a universally accepted regime; the Rules have also increasingly been seen as not addressing issues crucial for modern sea carriage. It has also been realized that the existing regime, whether based on the Hague, Hague-Visby, or Hamburg Rules, does not properly accommodate modern trade practices, such as those treating the carriage of goods by sea as part of wider door-to-door commercial transport operations and those relying on electronic commerce. Nevertheless, such criticism and considerations were for a long time unable to coalesce into a realistic plan for improving the situation.

The international carriage of goods by sea has been regulated by international conventions. These include the “International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading” (“Hague Rules”); the “Protocol to Amend the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law Relating to Bills of Lading” (“Visby Rules”); and the “UN Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea." They were adopted in 1924, 1968 and 1978 respectively and the transport industry's commercial needs have since substantially changed. Furthermore the advent of subsequent regimes has resulted in the uniformity in the carriage of goods by sea once provided by the Hague Rules being lost. In order to update and modernize existing regimes the “UN Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea” (“Rotterdam Rules”) was adopted on December 11, 2008 by the UN General Assembly and opened for signature on September 23, 2009. Since then drafters of the Rotterdam Rules, academics and practitioners have been publicizing, discussing, and evaluating the Rules. This book is an effort to further explore those same goals.

The new United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, the Rotterdam Rules, describes the rights and obligations of all parties with an interest in the carriage of goods by sea. The Rotterdam Rules bring more clarity regarding who is responsible and liable for what, when, where and to what extent. The application of the new convention will make international trade easier and lead to a reduction in costs.

This book is based on papers presented at the Sixth International Colloquium organised by the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, Swansea University, in September 2009. The sixteen contributions have been written by a team of international experts who collectively submit the newly proposed Rotterdam Rules to asustained, penetrative and comprehensive analysis. The scale of the Rotterdam Rules is staggeringly wide, as also are their detail and complexity, and coming to a full understanding of the provisions and implications ofthe Rules represents a challenge even to those experienced in the law and practice of commercial shipping. This book examines virtually all aspects of the Rules and will provide an effective, reliable and readable guide to everyone seeking a complete grasp of the Rules.

This book consists of edited versions of the papers delivered at the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law’s 11th International Colloquium, held at Swansea Law School in September 2015. Featuring a team of contributors at the top of their profession, both in practice and academia, these papers have been carefully co-ordinated so as to ensure to give the reader a first class insight into the issues surrounding international sale and carriage contracts. The book is set out in three parts: Part I offers a detailed and critical analysis on emerging issues and unresolved questions in international sales and the carriage contracts affected to facilitate such sales. Part II critically and thoroughly analyses the legal issues that often arise in the context of security over goods, letters of credit and similar documents. Part III is dedicated to a critical and up-to-date discussion on matters concerning cargo insurance in this context. With its breadth of coverage and high-quality analysis, this book is vital reading for both professional and academic readers with an interest in international trade and carriage of goods.

The Rotterdam Rules represent the most comprehensive overhaul of the law of carriage of goods by sea in more than fifty years. To coincide with the signing ceremony, six members of the Institute of Maritime Law have written a detailed commentary on the Rules. The Rotterdam Rules: A Practical Annotation examines the text of the Rules, all ninety-six articles of the new Convention, and compares them to the text of the Hague-Visby Rules, the instrument currently covering most bills of lading. The authors have also examined the judgments in cases decided in the English Courts under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Acts of 1971 and 1992 and have indicated whether these cases would be decided differently under the new Rotterdam Rules.