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U.S. trade groups recently have urged their government to speed ratification of an international convention on transportation contract known as the Rotterdam Rules.
The rules, formally named the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, were adopted by the General Assembly on December 11, 2008 to establish a uniform and modern global legal regime governing the rights and obligations of stakeholders in the maritime transport industry under a single contract for door-to-door carriage. The convention builds upon, and provides a modern alternative to earlier conventions governing the international carriage of goods by sea, as well as codifying important industry practice. The rules provide a legal framework that accounts for the many technological and commercial developments that have taken place in maritime transport since the adoption of the earlier conventions, including the growth of containerization, the need for door-to-door transport under a single contract of carriage and the development of electronic commerce.
So far, 24 countries have signed the convention including the U.S., but only Spain and Togo had ratified it.
The National Industrial Transportation League (NITL), World Shipping Council (WSC), and Maritime Law Association of the United State recently sent a letter to Susan N. Biniaz, Deputy Legal Adviser International Affairs, U.S. Department of State to promote early ratification of the international convention.
''We are quite concerned that the delay of more than three years after the United States signed the treaty is undermining international support for the treaty and is causing the international maritime community to doubt the United States' intentions,'' the groups said in a letter.
