Inter-Club New York Produce Exchange Agreement 1996 (as amended September 2011) 2 September 2011 No.11-011 The Inter-Club New York Produce Exchange Agreement, which was first formulated and entered into by Clubs in 1970 (the ICA), provides a relatively simple mechanism whereby liability for cargo claims arising under New York Produce Exchange Form (NYPE) or Asbatime charterparties and / or contracts of carriage authorised under such charterparties, can be swiftly and fairly apportioned between Owners and Charterers. The purpose behind the development of the ICA was to avoid costly and protracted litigation. The ICA, since its inception, has been amended on two occasions. The first in 1984 was to meet one particular shortcoming relating to the time limit for making claims. The second in 1996, whilst not deviating from the fundamental nature of the ICA, was more substantial and was introduced in particular to meet the needs of the container trade. It took the form of re-arranging the text in a more logical way and: (a) broadened the definition of what constituted a Cargo Claim under the ICA (b) included claims arising under through or combined transport bills of lading in certain defined circumstances (c) amended the time bar provision to cater for the possibility that the Hamburg Rules might apply to a Cargo Claim Following the 1996 amendment, the ICA was renamed the Inter-Club New York Produce Exchange Agreement 1996 (the 1996 Agreement). Both the ICA and the 1996 Agreement have worked well, been widely adopted by the maritime industry and have achieved their purpose. However, Clubs, members of the International Group of P&I Clubs (the Group), have recently expressed concern about the time and costs associated with dealing with issues of and demands for security as between Owners and Charterers under the 1996 Agreement and felt that a greater degree of co-operation between Clubs (in the spirit of the 1996 Agreement), could substantially reduce such costs. Clause