[EN-SEA] "American Bar" Backs "Rotterdam Rules" Over European Objections

THE American Bar Association has voted in favour of urging the US Congress to ratify the Rotterdam Rules at a recent ABA House of Delegates meeting in Orlando, Florida.

There has been considerable division over the Rotterdam Rules with Europeans tending to be against them while American interests mostly favouring the new regime.

These international shipping liability rules, which the United States signed last September, would replace the 1924 Carriage of Goods by Sea Act to cover liability for cargo that's damaged at sea or on land when part of a door-to-door intermodal move.

"The present legal regimes for maritime cargo transportation are numerous and outdated," the American Bar Association was quoted as saying in Newark's Journal of Commerce. "The Rotterdam Rules will provide greater harmony, efficiency, uniformity and predictability for those involved in marine shipping."

According to maritime attorney Chester Hooper, a member of the US delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law working group that drafted the rules, the American Bar Association's endorsement is important because the Senate will consult with the ABA about the Rotterdam Rules when they come up for ratification, the report noted.

Mr Hooper was cited as saying "he was unsure when the Senate will take up the rules, but with ABA endorsement and support from shippers and carriers, the rules should be ratified without difficulty," the report said.

It added that the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport recommended in a declaration released earlier this month that the 15 member countries of the Arab League jointly sign the rules "as a clear signal that the Arab region is dedicated to the developments of globalisation and modernisation in international maritime transport."

Earlier the European Commission found fault with the rules because they are not in line with wider EU transport policy that seeks to reduce shipping complexity.

The Geneva-based International Road Transport Union (IRU) added its call on governments to shun the rules as they were a "serious threat to the harmonised application of laws governing the road transport industry".

The European Shippers' Council (ESC) also opposed the rules with ESC secretary general Nicolette van der Jagt saying the rules were too complex and would discourage short-sea and coastal shipping in an intra-European, door-to-door logistics setting.

Source : HKSG, 13.02.10