Improving international uniform transport law by creating interpretative committees

Abstract

The term “uniform law” refers to all international legal instruments designed to apply identically in different States.3 Among these various instruments, international private law conventions create rules uniformly applicable in the contracting States in order to avoid the disparate treatment caused by domestic legislation applied through a conflicts-of-laws mechanism. One of the advantages of such a system is that by increasing legal certainty, it encourages the development of international trade. Adopting a set of uniform rules proves ineffective, however, if the courts hearing cases in the different countries that are party to these conventions do not apply these rules uniformly.4 And yet, we can all cite several examples of divergent applications of international conventions. The field of transport is not immune to these discrepancies and there are many examples of divergent interpretations of international transport conventions, some of which are likely to undermine the convention’s goal of uniformity.5 The benefits of uniform interpretation are the same as those of uniform law: applying the same rule all over the world when more than one legal system is involved leads to such legal certainty that the benefits do not even seem to be discussed anymore.6 As regards the purpose of international private law conventions (that is, to apply the same rule in different countries), divergent interpretations or applications of a convention can