always been what has been described as a “legal tower of Babel”.
5 The ideal solution
is, of course, for the same regime of cargo liability to apply “door to door” to the
same item of cargo through all modes of transportation. Nevertheless, the “network”
system persists stubbornly, largely because it is not obvious why cargo being carried
as part of a multimodal international transit should be subject to a different regime of
liability from the very same kind of cargo being carried by the very same mode of
transport in a unimodal transit. For example, cargo moving by road from Antwerp to
Rotterdam would be subject to the liability regime of the Convention on the Contract
for International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR)
6 ; why should the same cargo in
the same truck be subject to a different scheme of liability just because it will be
loaded onto a ship in Rotterdam for ocean carriage to another country?
Attempts to produce an internationally-uniform intermodal transportation instrument began as early as 1963, and continue to the present day. A veritable who’s who
of international bodies has pursued this desideratum, without success. In 1963, the
International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) published a
“draft convention on the international combined transport of goods”,
7 modeled on
CMR. In 1969, the Comité Maritime International (CMI) produced a draft convention called the “Tokyo Rules”,
8 which were modeled on the Hague Rules.
9 In 1970,
the Inland Transport Committee of the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe
(UN/ECE) combined the UNIDROIT and CMI draft conventions into a single text
known as the “Rome Draft”, which was later modified by meetings between
UN/ECE and the Intergovernmental Consultative Organization (IMCO) (which is
now the International Maritime Organization (IMO)). The joint effort of UN/ECE
and IMCO produced a draft convention known as the “TCM draft”, using the French
acronym “Transport Combiné de Marchandises”, which was to be finalized at a
UN/IMCO Container Conference in 1972.
10 Instead of finalizing the TCM draft, the
Container Conference referred the task of producing a multimodal convention to the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which eventually produced the U.N. Convention on International Multimodal Transport of
Goods, on 24 May 1980. Although based on nearly 20 years’ worth of work by
UNIDROIT, CMI, UN/ECE, IMCO and UNCTAD, the Convention has never come
into force, and surely never will. It needed thirty ratifications to come into force;
nearly 40 years after its adoption, it has only 11.
11 The Multimodal Convention
5 Murray et al. (2012), p. 811.
6 CMR has been adopted by 55 countries, including both Belgium and the Netherlands: see United
Nations Treaty Collection, https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src¼TREATY&mtdsg_
no¼XI-B-11&chapter¼11&clang¼_en.
7 UNCTAD (2001), p. 8, para. 16.
8 Id.
9 Nasseri (1988), pp. 231, 235.
10 UNCTAD (2001), p. 8, para. 17.
11 See United Nations Treaty Collection, https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%
20I/Chapter%20XI/XI-E-1.en.pdf.
When Was the Last Time You Were Restrained by a Prince? Conservatism. . .
155
5 The ideal solution
is, of course, for the same regime of cargo liability to apply “door to door” to the
same item of cargo through all modes of transportation. Nevertheless, the “network”
system persists stubbornly, largely because it is not obvious why cargo being carried
as part of a multimodal international transit should be subject to a different regime of
liability from the very same kind of cargo being carried by the very same mode of
transport in a unimodal transit. For example, cargo moving by road from Antwerp to
Rotterdam would be subject to the liability regime of the Convention on the Contract
for International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR)
6 ; why should the same cargo in
the same truck be subject to a different scheme of liability just because it will be
loaded onto a ship in Rotterdam for ocean carriage to another country?
Attempts to produce an internationally-uniform intermodal transportation instrument began as early as 1963, and continue to the present day. A veritable who’s who
of international bodies has pursued this desideratum, without success. In 1963, the
International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) published a
“draft convention on the international combined transport of goods”,
7 modeled on
CMR. In 1969, the Comité Maritime International (CMI) produced a draft convention called the “Tokyo Rules”,
8 which were modeled on the Hague Rules.
9 In 1970,
the Inland Transport Committee of the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe
(UN/ECE) combined the UNIDROIT and CMI draft conventions into a single text
known as the “Rome Draft”, which was later modified by meetings between
UN/ECE and the Intergovernmental Consultative Organization (IMCO) (which is
now the International Maritime Organization (IMO)). The joint effort of UN/ECE
and IMCO produced a draft convention known as the “TCM draft”, using the French
acronym “Transport Combiné de Marchandises”, which was to be finalized at a
UN/IMCO Container Conference in 1972.
10 Instead of finalizing the TCM draft, the
Container Conference referred the task of producing a multimodal convention to the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which eventually produced the U.N. Convention on International Multimodal Transport of
Goods, on 24 May 1980. Although based on nearly 20 years’ worth of work by
UNIDROIT, CMI, UN/ECE, IMCO and UNCTAD, the Convention has never come
into force, and surely never will. It needed thirty ratifications to come into force;
nearly 40 years after its adoption, it has only 11.
11 The Multimodal Convention
5 Murray et al. (2012), p. 811.
6 CMR has been adopted by 55 countries, including both Belgium and the Netherlands: see United
Nations Treaty Collection, https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src¼TREATY&mtdsg_
no¼XI-B-11&chapter¼11&clang¼_en.
7 UNCTAD (2001), p. 8, para. 16.
8 Id.
9 Nasseri (1988), pp. 231, 235.
10 UNCTAD (2001), p. 8, para. 17.
11 See United Nations Treaty Collection, https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%
20I/Chapter%20XI/XI-E-1.en.pdf.
When Was the Last Time You Were Restrained by a Prince? Conservatism. . .
155