“Owners’ Responsibilities” Clause of GENCON 2022: An Assessment under the Hague / Visby Rules, GENCON 94 Charter Party and the Turkish Commercial Code
GENCON 2022 “Owners’ Responsibilities” Klozu: Lahey / Visby Kuralları, GENCON 94 Çarter Partisi ve Türk Ticaret Kanunu Çerçevesinde Bir Değerlendirme
Melda TAŞKIN
The international nature of carriage of goods by sea has necessitated the establishment of uniform rules in progress of time. To address this need, standard contracts are developed by organizations engaged in maritime law. There is no obligation to use these standard forms in question, which are qualified as general terms and conditions and are drafted by international organizations operating in the field of maritime law. These standard forms are periodically updated in accordance with requirements of practice and considering the international character of maritime law and they are frequently employed by stakeholders who are reluctant to be subject to an unfamiliar legal system. Among these commonly used standard forms, the GENCON, prepared by BIMCO (“The Baltic and International Maritime Council”), holds a prominent position. GENCON charter party, containing the fundamentals of voyage charter agreements, was first introduced in 1922 and subsequently revised in response to practical needs in 1976, 1994, and most recently in 2022. With the revision in 2022, substantial alterations were made to certain clauses of GENCON 94 charter party. In this study, “Shipowner’s Responsibilities” Clause of GENCON 2022 charter party is intended to be evaluated, taking into consideration the corresponding clause of GENCON 94 and the relevant provisions of Turkish Commercial Code and the Hague - Visby Rules.
Voyage Charter, GENCON 94, GENCON 2022, Hague Visby Rules, Paramount clause.
Deniz yolu eşya taşımacılığının uluslararası niteliği, zaman içerisinde bu alanda yeknesak kuralların oluşturulması ihtiyacını doğurmıştur. Bu ihtiyacı gidermek üzere, deniz hukuku alanında faaliyet gösteren bazı kuruluşlar tarafından uygulamada ilgililer tarafından arzu edildiği takdirde kullanılmak üzere bazı standart sözleşmeler oluşturulmaktadır. Genel işlem koşulu niteliğinde olan ve deniz ticareti hukuku alanında faaliyet gösteren uluslararası kuruluşlar tarafından kaleme alınan söz konusu standart sözleşmelerin kullanılması hususunda bir zorunluluk bulunmamaktadır. Bununla birlikte, bu standart formlar, uygulamadaki ihtiyaçlar dikkate alınarak belirli aralıklarla güncellenmekte ve deniz ticareti hukukunun uluslararası niteliği gözetildiğinde, âşina olmadıkları bir hukuk sistemine tâbi olmaktan çekinen ilgililerce sıklıkla tercih edilmektedir. Bu standart formların başında BIMCO (“The Baltic and International Maritime Council”) tarafından hazırlanan GENCON çarter partisi gelmektedir. Yolculuk çarteri sözleşmelerine ilişkin esasların yer aldığı ve ilk defa 1922 yılında kullanıma sunulan bu standart çarter parti, 1976 ve 1994 ve son olarak 2022 yılında uygulamadaki ihtiyaçlar doğrultusunda revize edilmiştir. 2022 yılında yapılan revizyon ile birlikte, GENCON standart çarter partisinde, GENCON 94 formunda yer alan ve sıklıkla eleştirilen bazı klozlarda önemli sayılabilecek değişiklikler yapılmıştır. Çalışmada, GENCON 2022 çarter partisinin “Owners’ Responsibilities” başlıklı klozunun, GENCON 94 çarter partisindeki ilgili kloz ve Türk Ticaret Kanunu ile Lahey / Visby Kurallarındaki ilgili düzenlemeler göz önünde bulundurulmak suretiyle değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmaktadır.
Yolculuk Çarteri Sözleşmesi, GENCON 94, GENCON 2022, Lahey Visby Kuralları, Paramount Klozu.
I. INTRODUCTION
Due to the international nature of maritime transportation, a significant portion of the disputes in practice involve an element of foreignness. In the face of this situation, in order to prevent unfair outcomes that would arise from applying different rules to similar cases, certain measures have been taken on the international stage. Within this framework, the first method employed is the establishment of uniform rules through international agreements in the field of maritime transportation. Indeed, in today’s context, some of these international agreements concerning maritime transportation are being accepted by certain states and/or certain rules from these international agreements are being incorporated into domestic law to achieve international uniformity. Another method used within maritime law to ensure uniformity at the international level involves the creation of standardized form contracts pertaining to specific matters. These standardized contracts, which hold the nature of general transactional conditions, are drafted by international organizations engaged in maritime law and are periodically updated in line with developments in practice. While there is no obligation to utilize these standardized contracts, due to the presence of the foreign element in practice, parties unwilling to be subject to disparate legal systems often resort to these standardized forms, which provide solutions harmonious with international standards, for their legal controversy. At the forefront of standardized form contracts utilized in the practice of carriage by sea is the GENCON standard form, prepared by BIMCO. This particular form, which is periodically updated in accordance with developments in the field of maritime ransportation, was last revised in the year 2022.
Within this framework, significant amendments have been introduced, particularly in the “Shipowner’s Responsibility” clause of the GENCON 94 standard form, wherein conditions that garnered criticism for excessively favoring the shipowner have been eliminated. Instead of the GENCON 94 standard form’s system that implied an extensive protection to the shipowner, a system has been adopted in line with the Hague-Visby Rules, where the shipowner is held accountable not only for their own acts but also for the actions of their servants. Furthermore, in the GENCON 2022 charter party, the need to add the Paramount Clause in the charter party has been obviated due to the explicit reference made to the Hague-Visby Rules. This adjustment facilitates a parallelism between the responsibility system in the still widely accepted Hague-Visby Rules globally.
Below, the principles introduced in the “Shipowner’s Responsibilities” clause of the GENCON 2022 charter party will be examined in comparison with the relevant clause of the GENCON 94 charter party, as well as the provisions of the Hague-Visby Rules and the Turkish Commercial Code, to provide an in-depth analysis.
