The Hamburg Rules are a set of rules governing the international shipment of goods, resulting from the United Nations International Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea adopted in Hamburg on 31 March 1978.
[1] The convention was an attempt to form a uniform legal base for the transportation of goods on oceangoing ships.
A driving force behind the convention was the attempt by developing countries' to provide all participants a fair and equal chance of succeeding.
[3][4] The 1978 Hamburg Rules were introduced to provide a framework that was both more modern, and less biased in favour of ship-operators.
Article 31 of the Hamburg Convention[5] covers its entry into force, coupled to denunciation of other Rules.