Members of the local maritime transport industry attended the presentation of local law firm Tomasello & Weitz’s latest publication; titled “The Rotterdam Rules,” to better understand the improvements and challenges this new regulatory framework proposes.
Lead by Leslie Tomasello Hart, the Tomasello & Weitz firm worried by the high complexity and controversy the Rotterdam Rules have caused all over the industry, called on the national maritime actors to help them understand through two presentations which, from different points of view, managed to deliver to those present a better context on the change the commented Rules are proposing.
Enlightening presentations
Leslie Tomasello Hart, partner at the Chilean firm lead the event with a few brief words to remind that the book’s and presentations’ main objective is to contribute spreading knowledge about these new Rules “because it cannot be ruled out that they (the Rules) may eventually come into force and our country would have to make a decision on them.”
Regarding his presentation, Tomasello Hart highlighted that “the Rotterdam Rules are indeed complex and intend on regulating the contract entirely that is why they are so extensive, an unprecedented characteristic if they are compared to their predecessors The Hague, the Hague- Visby and the Hamburg Rules, being Chile a State belonging to the latter.”
But in a truly international industry such as maritime transport, a one sided point of view is not enough to understand the magnitude of the implications and the potential impact of a new regulatory framework. That is why, following Tomasello Hart’s presentation, British lawyer Justin Draeger, partner at Hill Dickinson LLP, spoke. According to Draeger, the current rules do need a change, and, maybe, the Rotterdam Rules could bring that change, but their broad ambitions regarding the incorporation of technological advances, along with what he considered to be ‘poorly drafted’, makes them even more complex to understand, interpret and enforce.
But, despite his unenthusiastic outlook on the proposed Rules, he did admit that it had been “an honor to be invited to speak in front of so many important people from the Chilean maritime industry. It was a challenge to understand the Rotterdam Rules because they are very complex and have not been enforced anywhere in the world, so there is no ‘case law’ for us to interpret them”.
Tomasello Hart referred to his colleague’s words and noted that “he has in fact highlighted the complexities, and, obviously, in his Anglo-Saxon mentality he has noted that he will not be able to count on the ‘case law’ that has been built on like a coral for many years. He misses the fact that he could count on that help regarding the Rotterdam Rules, but this is not possible at this time as they are not valid in any country yet.”
Industry reactions
Being faced with such a complex topic, maritime lawyers and even non-legal maritime actors were very grateful about the event and the presentation of the book, as the different sides shown allowed a preview of what is to come in the future and how to detect alert signals regarding they be eventually enforced in Chile.
Among those present, there were many relevant companies in the national maritime transport scene, such as Hamburg Sud, DHL, CSAV, Nachipa, CMA CGM, Maersk, Ultramar Agencia Marítima and SAAM, among others. Members of the maritime-legal community were also there, such as the Chilean Association of Maritime Law and Viollier & Associates, among others.
Hernán Reitze, from Naviera Chilena del Pacífico (Nachipa), noted that "this is the fourth version of the rules that regulate international maritime transport contracts and it is a natural thing to look for improvements in the systems as the years go by, specially due to the technological achievements. Personally, I am not a lawyer, so events such as this one are very useful to better understand the maritime commerce’s regulatory framework. Between the book and the presentations there is a good preview of what could come in the future.”
About "The Rotterdam Rules"
The Rotterdam Rules were subscribed in September 2009 at the port from which they get their name, and they look to replace the current The Hague, the Hague- Visby and Hamburg Rules that regulate international maritime merchandise transport.
In the words of Tomasello Hart, "it is an extensive and complex agreement that regulates the contract taking into consideration all the subjects involved and all the obligations that arise from it; it is both a unimodal and multimodal regulation; it includes electronic documentation treatment policies; assigns a broader field of will autonomy an aspect worth mentioning in the ‘volume contracts’; deals in detail with the charterer’s obligations; and contemplates a jurisdictional regime.”
The book was written by Leslie Tomasello Hart, Leslie Tomasello Weitz, Christian Fox, Luis Felipe Peuriot, Andrés Klenner and Begoña Carrillo, and has been available for purchase for three months at Librotecnia Editorial.
About Tomasello & Weitz
Tomasello & Weitz law firm was created in 1967 and is currently composed by Leslie Tomasello Hart, Gloria Weitz Bravo, Leslie Tomasello Weitz, Luis Felipe Peuriot, Christian Fox, Andrés Klenner and Begoña Carrillo and is mainly dedicated at Maritime Law, assisting national and foreign companies in maritime trade issues.
By MundoMaritimo
| 13 | March |
| TOC Container Supply Chain - Asia 2012 | |
| More events | |
