The Rotterdam Rules will be open for signature on 23rd September 2009. They represent the most comprehensive overhaul of the law of carriage of goods by sea in more than fifty years.

To coincide with the signing ceremony, six members of the Institute of Maritime Law have written a detailed commentary on the Rules.

Publishing in September, The Rotterdam Rules: A Practical Annotation will carefully examine the text of the Rules, all ninety-six articles of the new Convention, and compare them to the text of the Hague-Visby Rules, the instrument currently covering most bills of lading.

The authors have also examined the judgments in cases decided in the English Courts under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 and under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992 and have indicated whether these cases would be decided differently under the new Rotterdam Rules.

This new addition to the Maritime and Transport Law Library, will provide you with practical and rigorous answers to all the questions you may have as cargo claims come to be governed by the Rotterdam Rules. It will be essential reading for those who need to prepare for the new Rules, including practitioners, whether solicitors or barristers, claims handlers in P&I Clubs and in-house legal advisers.