A draft instrument on the international carriage of goods and the outstanding issues

유엔 국제화물 운송협약(초안)과 주요 쟁점 연구

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law(hereinafter"UNCITRAL"), the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law, is currently in the process of preparing a draft instrument on the international carriage of goods. In order to facilitate and prompt for new draft instrument, Working Group Ⅲ was established under the auspicious of UNCITRAL in 2002. Working Group, which was composed of all member countries of UNCITRAL, considered the text of preliminary draft instrument on the carriage of goods by sea. According to the Working Group's report, this new convention deals with issues relating to the international ocean carriage of goods such as the scope of application, the period of responsibility of the carrier, liability of the carrier, obligations of the shipper and transport documents including electronic records. In the course of the second reading, however, there are lots of outstanding issues to deliberate and consider for formulating new version of the ocean cargo liability convention. One of the substantial issues is the snail's pace of progress in last sessions. Therefore legal adviser and industry representatives assume the next UNCITRAL meeting, in Vienna, Nov. 29-Dec. 10, would be more critical to complete the convention.