The failure of the three main International Commercial Conventions (The Hague-Visby Rules, The Hamburg
Rules, and The Rotterdam Rules) to adequately protect the International commercial carriers, and the key issues
that weaken the respect and the applicability of these conventions.
How liabilities differentiate from one convention to another and how the subsequent convention
reduced carrier’s responsibility (e.g Art 12, Art 13 Rotterdam Rules provides that the multimodal carrier can
contract out of responsibility at any stage during the carriage by the express contractual provisions. This is a
retrogressive step comparing to the strict liability provision under Art 3 of the HV Rules.)
The issue here that when comparing the provisions of these three conventions, there are some retrogressive
steps.
Chap 3:
The reticence of some countries to singe International Commercial conventions? For what reason? What’s the
alternative?
Chap 4:
The differences in interpretation of provisions between signatory countries is another issue. In addition, the
absence of an International Court is a key issue as it’s important to provide a uniform understanding of terms of
conventions. The absence of an International Court weaken the application and the understanding of these
conventions.