the travaux préparatoires hague rules hague-visby rules - Comite ...

PART II - VISBY RULES 537Article 4 (5) - Limits of liabilityThis would happen, in particular, if the amendments proposed by the UnitedStates and the Federal Republic of Germany were approved.The combined system can be applied only if and when the weight is shown in thebills of lading; for this event, the limitation might be referred, in a subordinate way, alsoto the weight.[44]A logical proposal in this sense has been already submitted to the Conference bythe yugoslavian delegation: according to it, the principal provision ought to cover thelimitation based on package or unit, and a subordinate provision ought to cover thelimitation based on the weight, but only if the weight of the package or the unit hasbeen acknowledged by inserting it in the bill of lading.Our view is that such a mixed system is logical and praise-worthy.Mr. M. J. Kerry (United Kingdom). I would like to make a few general remarksabout the views of the United Kingdom delegation.First of all, we consider that the present limitation by package or unit is inappropriateto our container traffic and causes considerable doubts and difficulties. Theproposed container convention will deal with through-container traffic by road andsea or rail and sea, and will not cover the problems which arise where a container issent by sea only and is covered by a bill of lading. Therefore, the Hague Rules shouldbe appropriate to container traffic. It follows, therefore, that a per kilo basis is the bestway to deal with this particular problem, in our view.However, the per kilo basis has two disadvantages, firstly it is not really appropriatefor small packages of a reasonably high value. Secondly, it gives rise to practical administrativedifficulties. For that reasons, we prefer the alternative basis of limitationalong the lines that our amendment proposed.M. le Président. La parole est à la délégationfrançaise.M. de Bresson (France). Monsieur lePrésident, j’aimerais indiquer dans cettediscussion générale quelles sont les préoccupationsde la délégation française auregard des textes qui nous sont soumis.Nos réflexions s’inspirent de troisidées générales.La première est qu’en matière detransport maritime, nous nous trouvons,eu égard à la nature des marchandisestransportées, devant des problèmes spécifiques.Par conséquent, nous ne devonspas craindre d’adopter des solutions originalespar rapport aux Conventions deVarsovie ou de Berne.Deuxième remarque, dans les textesque nous allons élaborer, nous devonschercher à tenir compte de l’évolutiondans la nature des marchandises transportées,et moderniser autant que fairese peut les conventions existantes.The Chairman. The French Delegationhas the floor.Mr. de Bresson (France). Mr. Chairman,I would like to indicate in this generaldiscussion the preoccupations of theFrench delegation with respect to thetexts that have been submitted.Our reflections are inspired by threegeneral ideas.The first is that in the field of carriageby sea, we are faced, considering the natureof the goods carried, with specificproblems. Consequently, we should notbe afraid to adopt original solutionscompared to the Warsaw or Berne Conventions.Secondly, in the texts that we shallelaborate, we must endeavour to take intoaccount the evolution in the nature ofthe goods to be carried and modernizethe existing conventions as much as wecan.