International Chamber of Commerce Supports Logistics Agenda

Referring to a fragmented series of rules governing liability in maritime and related transport services, the US-based National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) and the World Shipping Council (WSC) welcomed a statement on the Rotterdam Rules Convention by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The organization's commission on transport and logistics reviewed the Rotterdam Rules Convention and asked governments to consider its ratification based on a set of objectives considered important to international trading interests.

These objectives were communicated to the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) by ICC at the outset of the Convention negotiations in 2002 and have been supported by NITL and WSC throughout those talks, said NITL.

"The [Rotterdam] Convention aims to provide uniformity for the international carriage of goods, which at the current time is governed by a number of maritime liability regimes, absent of a global convention for multimodal transport and e‐commerce," said the ICC. The first objective listed by ICC is the importance of a harmonized liability regime for maritime transport and related door‐to‐door transport and the need to avoid regionalization.