Statutory Instruments
MERCHANT SHIPPING
Made
8th June 1977
At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 8th day of June 1977
Present,
The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council
Now, therefore, Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred upon Her by the said subsection, and of all other powers enabling Her in that behalf, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:-
1.-(1) This Order may be cited as the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 (Commencement) Order 1977.
(2) The Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply for the interpretation of this Order as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.
2.
3.
(a)bills of lading and similar documents of title issued before the appointed day; and
(b)bills of lading and similar documents of title issued on or after the appointed day but before 23rd December 1977 pursuant to contracts entered into before the appointed day.
N. E. Leigh
Clerk of the Privy Council
This Order appoints 23rd June 1977 as the day on which the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 comes into force ("the appointed day").
The 1971 Act was enacted to enable effect to be given to the 1968 Protocol to the International Convention for the Unification of certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading 1924 (Cmnd. 3743) ("the Hague Rules"), which has been ratified by the United Kingdom and comes into force on the same day as the appointed day.
The 1971 Act repeals the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1924 containing the Hague Rules before amendment by the Protocol. (The Hague Rules, as amended by the Protocol, are set out in the Schedule to the 1971 Act.) But the Order makes transitional provisions, the effect of which is that the 1924 Act continues to apply in relation to bills of lading issued before the appointed day, and to bills of lading issued on or after the appointed day but before 23rd December 1977 pursuant to contracts entered into before the appointed day.