Richard Cooper Memorial Lecture Series

	Justice Richard Cooper

This series of lectures was established in 2005 in honour of the late Justice Richard Cooper of the Federal Court of Australia, who passed away suddenly on 14 March 2005. It is dedicated to the strong interests in maritime and native title law which he developed over the course of a long and distinguished legal career. For information on the Richard Cooper LLM Scholarship, please click here

2009 Richard Cooper Memorial Lecture

"The Rotterdam Rules 2009: Issues for Australia?"

Presented by Professor Nick Gaskell
Professor of Maritime and Commercial Law, TC Beirne School of Law
and Barrister (Quandrant Chambers London)

 Abstract:
The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 11 December 2008. It will be open for signature on 23 September 2009 in a ceremony in Rotterdam, and the Convention will be known as the “Rotterdam Rules” 2009.

The Rotterdam Rules represent a major attempt to achieve international uniformity in the terms under which the vast bulk of the world’s trade is carried by sea. They reflect over 10 years of international drafting, and will make significant changes to law and practice dating back to 1924. The Rotterdam Rules 2009 aim to replace not only the Hague Rules 1924 and the Hague-Visby Rules 1968, but also the Hamburg Rules 1978.

Australia flirted with radical changes to its law in the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1991 (Cth) but, following an amendment in 1997, adopted a series of solutions and modifications that attempted to achieve modernisation without being in conflict with the prevailing international Rules.

The Rotterdam Rules 2009 represent an opportunity for Australia to revisit the debates of the 1990s, in order to see whether the new instrument will meet the needs of its trading community in the current millennium. All the world’s major trading nations were involved in the negotiations for the 2009 Rules, but it remains to be seen whether key players such as the US and China will ratify.

To download a copy of the Rotterdam Rules 2009 click here.

Previous Richard Cooper Memorial Lectures