The Dutch Code of Commerce contained up until 1952 only a few Articles with regard to the inland waterways and road transport. The present Code of Commerce which stems from 1838, will—together with the present Civil Code—be substituted in the near future and brought together in the so-called New Civil Code.

At the beginning of this century the bulk of transport was performed by the inland waterways regular liner services. The local transport was done by horse-drawn carts. Because of the fact that the rules of the Code of Commerce did not respond to the needs of daily practice, the organisation of inland waterways regular liner services issued in 1912 the General Conditions for regular inland waterways liner services, the so-called “Conditions Steam and Sail”.

Later on, the transport of goods by lorries became more important. Before World War II the organisation of regular inland waterways liner services and the organisation of entrepreneurs of road transport tried to design one document and one set of standard rules for all inland transport. After World War II the present conditions were drafted and issued. They bear the following name: “General conditions for the transport of goods by tramway, regular inland waterways liner services, and road transport 1950”. The conditions entered into force on Nov. 1, 1952, and were subsequently changed in 1971 by minor modification of the text. For daily practice the change was of utmost importance. According to the former text the carrier was never liable for damage to unpacked goods whereas in the present text this depends on the nature of the goods. The revised set of rules were enacted on Apr. 1, 1972.

At this moment, Professor Schadee, the designer of the new Code of Transport, which is part of the New Dutch Civil Code, is drafting a new set of rules which will substitute the present transport conditions. This drafting process is in its very last stage. The new conditions will come into force at the same date as the new Code of Transport of the renewed Civil Code enters into force. If all goes according to schedule that will be on Jan. 1, 1980.

In the introduction it was explained for what sort of transport the present set of rules applies. Today the conditions almost only apply to the transport of goods by road, as the number of inland waterways liner services has been reduced to almost zero and no goods are carried by tramway. The conditions do not contain any compulsory law. A fixed rule is that parties must in principle stipulate the applicability of those rules. However, there is one decision of the District Court of Haarlem, saying that the Conditions are deemed to be stipulated by the contracting parties (“Schip & Schade”, 1970, 65). The considerations were that a great part of the