International Transport of Goods

UNCITRAL has prepared several conventions to harmonize the rules regarding international transport, with a particular focus on seagoing navigation.

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 the Hamburg Rules, the United Nations Convention on the Liability of Operators of Transport Terminals in International Trade (Vienna, 1991) establishes a uniform legal regime governing the liability of an operator of a transport terminal, 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.

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, builds upon, among others, the Hamburg Rules in establishing a uniform and modern legal regime governing the rights and obligations of shippers, carriers and consignees under a contract for door-to-door carriage that includes an international sea leg. The Rotterdam Rules provide a legal framework that takes into account the many technological and commercial developments that have occurred in maritime transport since the adoption of earlier maritime transport conventions, including the growth of containerization, the desire for door-to-door carriage under a single contract, and the development of electronic transport documents. The Convention provides shippers and carriers with a binding and balanced universal regime to support the operation of maritime contracts of carriage that may involve other modes of transport.

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, establishes a harmonized regime for giving international effect to clean title acquired in ships sold by judicial sale.

In addition to these conventions, UNCITRAL has formulated model provisions for expressing or adjusting monetary amounts in international transport and liability conventions. In 1982, UNCITRAL adopted 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 a limit of liability.