New U.N. Convention on Liability of Terminal Operators in International Trade

This Article examines the completion of the new United Nations Convention on the Liability of Operators of Transport Terminals is International Trade at a diplomatic conference in Vienna. This conference terminated an eight-year process of international legislation that began with a recognition of the problem of the gaps in international transport law by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (“UNIDROIT”), a complete study of the terminal operations industry and a lengthy review of the legal problems in the Working Group on International Contract Practices (the “Working Group”) of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”), the preparation of a draft convention by the Plenary Meeting of UNCITRAL, and review by the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the U.N. General Assembly leading to the call for the Diplomatic Conference