Rotterdam Rules Draw 20 Signatories

Twenty nations have signed the Rotterdam Rules in its first month, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law announced on Friday.

Getting 20 signatories is a symbolic but significant threshold for supporters of the new international convention to govern loss or damage to cargo at sea or in transit on land under an ocean carrier’s contract.

The convention needs ratification by 20 nations to take effect. Officials said that signing the convention is a nation’s way of signaling its intent to ratify. If ratified in the United States, the rules will replace the 1936 Carriage of Goods by Sea Act.

UNCITRAL reported that Armenia, Cameroon, Madagascar and Niger had recently signed the convention, joining 16 nations that signed the rules at a ceremony in Rotterdam on Sept. 23.

World Shipping Council, a strong supporter of the rules, said it was “pleased to see the substantial international support for the Rotterdam Rules at this early stage of the entry-into-force process.”

Contact R.G. Edmonson at bedmonson@joc.com.