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K. NOUSSIA
Carrier liability under the Rotterdam Rules
Dr. Kyriaki Noussia,
LL.M., Ph.D. Attorney at Law, Assistant Professor, Law School,
College of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of Exeter, UK.
1. Introduction
The 1924 Brussels Convention aimed into compromising the interests of carrier and
shipper and hence limiting the abuse of freedom of contract.
1
The same concept and
idea was promoted via the adoption of the 1968 Visby Protocol
2
(i.e. the Hague-
Visby Rules). Likewise, the Hamburg Rules aimed in clarifying the previous legal
instruments and in strengthening the regime of protection offered by previous
legal instruments, however they have been largely known and acknowledged
as a replica of the Hague-Visby Rules, in the sense that they did not enforce the
regime of the carriers’ liability as it had been expected, and hence their success
has been diminished. The Rotterdam Rules,
3
however, serve as a much better - than
the previous - legal instrument regulating maritime transport, in that they do not
merely constitute a replica of the above. Indeed, the drafters of the Rotterdam
Rules have taken into account the reasons of the failure of the Hamburg Rules to
achieve a widespread consensus, when drafting the carrier liability regime under
the new Rules. Although at first glance, they might appear to have a similar (as
to the carrier liability regime) approach to the regime adopted by the Hague-Visby
Rules
4
, nevertheless the Rotterdam Rules modify the carrier liability regime in that
they also consider both the technical evolution of sea transport and a full-fledged
1. G. T
REITEL
,F.M.B. R
EYNOLDS
,
Carver on Bill of Lading,
London, 2001, 9-062; H. K
ARAN
,
The carrier’s
liability under international maritime conventions: the Hague, Hague-Visby, and Hamburg rules,
Lewiston-Queenston-Lampeter, 2004; S.M. C
ARBONE
,
Contratto di trasportomarittimo di cose,
2
nd
ed. (in cooperation with A. L
A
M
ATTINA
), Milano, 2010; M. S
TURLEY
,
The Legislative History of
the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act and the Travaux Preparatories of the Hague Rules,
Littleton-
Colorado, 1990.
2. Protocol to amend the International Convention for the unification of certain rules of law relating to
bills of lading (Brussels, 23 February 1968), entered into force on 23 June 1977.
3. United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by
Sea (Rotterdam, 23 September 2009).
4. For instance, the «presumed fault» of the carrier (Article 17.2) is based on fundamental obliga-
tions with which the carrier must comply with and with the
onus probandi
scheme, i.e. an amelio-
rated version of the traditional «excepted perils» system.