Ramandeep Kaur Chhina
Uniform International Legal Regime for Multimodal Transport: Unarguable Need but No General Acceptance
Chhina, Ramandeep Kaur
Authors
Abstract
Currently there is no set of uniform rules for multimodal transport that have received general acceptance and thus entered into force internationally. Following the growth of containerised transportation in the 1960s and the declared support for the enactment of a multimodal transport regime, attempts have been made by several international organisations to establish a widely acceptable uniform international legal framework governing multimodal transport. However, none of these attempts has been successful in bringing about international uniformity, whether it be the UN Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods 1980 or the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)/International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Rules for Multimodal Transport Documents 1992. This article provides an overview of previous international attempts to achieve harmonisation in multimodal transport law and examines why it has become extremely difficult to provide a widely acceptable legal instrument in this field, despite its unarguable need and demand on the part of industry. In particular, the article examines the possible reasons for the failure of the UN Multimodal Transport Convention 1980 to attract sufficient support. It then briefly analyses the approach to multimodal transport under the recent Rotterdam Rules 2009, attempting to establish whether these Rules provide uniformity and efficiency in multimodal transport law or result in yet another set of rules contributing to further disunity in the field at international level.
Citation
Chhina, R. K. (2013). Uniform International Legal Regime for Multimodal Transport: Unarguable Need but No General Acceptance. Journal of International Maritime Law, 19(6), 516-524
| Journal Article Type | Article |
|---|---|
| Acceptance Date | Aug 30, 2013 |
| Publication Date | Dec 17, 2013 |
| Deposit Date | Feb 13, 2018 |
| Journal | Journal of International Maritime Law |
| Print ISSN | 1478-8586 |
| Publisher | Lawtext Publishing |
| Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 516-524 |
| Public URL | http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1038397 |