International Transport of Goods

UNCITRAL has prepared several texts to harmonize the rules regarding the carriage of goods and related matters.

The United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea (Hamburg, 1978), also known as the Hamburg Rules, establishes a uniform legal regime governing the rights and obligations of shippers, carriers and consignees under a contract of carriage of goods by sea.

Complementing this framework, in 1982, UNCITRAL adopted model provisions for expressing or adjusting monetary amounts in international transport and liability conventions: a model provision establishing a universal unit of account of constant value for expressing amounts in monetary terms, as well as alternative model provisions for adjusting an amount set forth in a convention (a sample price index clause and a sample amendment procedure for limits of liability).

In addition, it prepared the United Nations Convention on the Liability of Operators of Transport Terminals in International Trade (Vienna, 1991) to address liability of transport terminal operators, i.e., commercial enterprises that handle goods before, during or after the carriage of goods, for loss of or damage to goods and for delay in handing goods over.

Building on earlier maritime transport conventions, including the Hamburg Rules, and responding to fundamental changes in international trade such as containerization, the prevalence of door-to-door carriage under a single contract, and the use of electronic transport documents, UNCITRAL prepared the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (New York, 2008), also known as the Rotterdam Rules, which offers a modern and predictable legal framework governing the rights and obligations of shippers, carriers and consignees under a contract for door-to-door carriage that includes an international sea leg.

Years later, UNCITRAL prepared the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (New York, 2022), also known as the Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships, to establish a harmonized regime for giving international effect to clean title acquired in ships sold by judicial sale.

Shortly afterwards, it prepared the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents (New York, 2025), also known as the Accra Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents, to extend the benefits of a negotiable cargo document beyond maritime transport. The Convention establish a uniform legal framework governing the issuance and use of a new type of document of title (a negotiable cargo document), in paper or electronic form, that represents goods in transit, regardless of transport mode.

Conventions

Model laws

Additional Resources