Denmark: Maritime Law Committee Submits New Report

On 18 April 2012, the Maritime Law Committee submitted its report on contracts for the carriage of goods wholly or partly by sea (the Rotterdam rules).

The report was submitted to the Minister for Business and Growth in May 2012.

The report concerns the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, 2008, which was adopted by the General Assembly of the UN on 11 December 2008. The Convention is referred to as the Rotterdam rules because it became open for signature to States at a ceremony held in Rotterdam in September 2009. Denmark signed the Rotterdam rules subject to the usual ratification reservation in 2009.

The Rotterdam rules contain comprehensive regulations of the contractual terms, including liability, in relation to goods carried by sea. As something new, also contracts for transports involving other modes of transport in addition to carriage by sea are regulated, i.e. transport by road, rail, air or inland waterways carried out in addition to an international transport by sea. The liability regulations have been modernized considerably. Thus, the carrier’s liability has become stricter, and the limits of liability have been increased. The shipper’s obligations and liability have also been regulated in more detail than in previous conventions on carriage by sea.

With the submission of the report, the Maritime Law Committee recommends that Denmark initiates the necessary process for ratification of the Rotterdam rules. Thus, the Committee´s report contains a specific bill proposing to implement the Rotterdam rules by inserting a new chapter 13 in the merchant shipping act.

The implementation of the bill presented by the Maritime Law Committee will involve a comprehensive modernization of the provisions on the carriage of general cargo. First and foremost, it will mean that the provisions of the merchant shipping act on the lay-out, etc. of contracts will become more updated in relation to both increased international trade and technological developments.

The Danish Maritime Authority has, on behalf of the Minister for Business and Growth, submitted the report of the Maritime Law Committee for consultation with the relevant authorities and organisations in June 2012. The Minister for Growth and Business expects to present a bill on the basis of the report in early 2013.

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Source: DMA, July 3, 2012