Jurisdiction in Disputes Concerning Carriage of Goods by Sea

The author discusses the issues concerning the allocation of jurisdiction in disputes arising from contracts of carriage of goods by sea governed by the Hague Rules of 1924, as later amended by the Visby Protocol of 1967, which are in force for most of the meaningful countries in the maritime sector. These rules do not regulate, at least expressly, questions related to jurisdiction, and therefore raise the need for a coordination with the rules contained in the instruments governing jurisdiction in the relevant countries. These, as concerns the EU Member States, are to be found essentially in the Brussels I‑bis Regulation, whose application in respect of disputes concerning contracts of carriage of goods by sea has been addressed in many cases by the EU Court of Justice in its case law. Still, there may be cases standing at the border between the EU judicial area and third countries, and maritime disputes having the English courts as a traditional venue fall, since Brexit, in this frontier area.