1 THE HISTORY OF THE CONVENTION1

In May 1994 the Executive Council of the Comité Maritime International (CMI) appointed a working group2 with the mandate to continue the study on a possible substantial revision of the Hague-Visby Rules. That working group drew up a questionnaire3 for the CMI National Associations in which its opinion was requested on the best manner to find a remedy to the proliferation of the regimes governing carriage by sea in force in the maritime world4 and, in the affirmative, on whether such new regime should consist of a modernisation of either the Hague-Visby Rules or the Hamburg Rules or should consist in an entirely new set of uniform rules. Subsequently, the Executive Council created a new International Subcommittee giving it as terms of reference the preparation of a study of the most important questions in the area of carriage of goods by sea and the submission of recommendations on the most convenient manner of handling them with a view to ensuring international uniformity.