ELECTRONIC BILLS OF LADING IN THE LIGHT OF THE ROTTERDAM RULES 2009

Replacing traditional paper bills of lading with electronic bills of lading has been the trend in the area of international carriage of goods by sea. Such practice has not been regulated under the enforced International Sea Conventions namely the Hague-Visby Rules and the Hamburg Rules. The most recent attempt of the United Nations have introduced the Rotterdam Rules 2009 with the aims to bring legal modernisation, legal harmonisation and legal certainty in international carriage of goods by sea. The e-commerce practices have been recognised under the Rotterdam Rules and the provisions are considered to be the driving force for the Rules to enter into force. Since the Rules have not received sufficient number of ratifications due to various criticisms along with the private devised rules introduced by the BIMCO and the insurance cover provided by the International Group of P&I Clubs, the perception of the industry may vary accordingly and thus worth further study. This paper first gives a brief introduction about the use of electronic bills of lading followed by a comparative analysis on the Rotterdam Rules and the BIMCO's Electronic Bills of Lading Clause. The analysis will also assess the extent of any private-devised rules in influencing the position of the Rules in terms of their coverage. In the last part of this paper concludes the effectiveness of the Rules in regulating electronic bills of lading and the reasons why the industry has changed their perception towards the Rules. (c) 2018 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK