UNCITRAL working group gets off to slow start at UN

UNCITRAL working group gets off to slow start at UN    The Working Group III on transport law within the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), which is preparing a draft instrument on the carriage of goods by sea, is moving more ponderously than anticipated by some observers, as it enters its second week of deliberations at the UN headquarters in New York.
   At the beginning of its discussions, the working group noted in a statement it had “reached a particularly difficult phase” of its work, and that “a number of issues remained open for discussion regarding the scope and individual provisions of the draft instrument.”
   At mid-day Monday, with only two working days left in the May New York session, the working group had reached Article 25 of 89 articles in the draft instrument. Even that benchmark is misleading, because much of the ground covered so laboriously has resulted in bracketed provisions, meaning that clauses — often whole paragraphs — within brackets will have to be discussed again later in 2004, when the group meets in Vienna.
   On Monday morning, nearly 50 minutes of debate was spent on a single paragraph pertaining to an ocean carrier’s liability regarding deck cargo.
   The U.S. delegation withheld comments until more of the week had passed, but its members appeared frustrated by the slow progress thus far.