Implementation of the Electronic Bill of Lading: International Experience. Part I

The paper is devoted to a comparative analysis of attempts to simulate the functions of a bill of lading issued on paper in a virtual environment. The paper emphasizes that the use of the paper form of the bill of lading constrains the potential of maritime transportation and levels the successes achieved by technological progress in maritime trade. The paper emphasizes that the use of the paper form of the bill of lading constrains the potential of maritime transportation and levels the successes achieved by technological progress in maritime trade. The author considers attempts aimed at creating a functional equivalence of the bill of lading based on the creation of so-called club systems in which the legal force of the bill of lading is backed by contractual ties: SeaDocs, Bolero, essDOCS. The reasons why none of the club systems has been able to fully simulate the functional equivalence of a bill of lading issued on paper are revealed. The author highlights attempts to introduce an electronic bill of lading based on the unification of international law. For this purpose, the author studies the Rules for Electronic Bills of Lading developed by the International Maritime Committee (CMI), the Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (Rotterdam Rules), as well as the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records approved by UNCITRAL (MLETR). The possibility of giving an equivalent legal status to a bill of lading in electronic form in national legal systems is analyzed. It is noted that this possibility is not recognized by most national legal systems, which leaves open the question of recognizing an electronic bill of lading issued in other jurisdictions. The exception is the legislation of Australia, the USA and the Republic of Korea, the provisions whereof are subject to such comparative analysis. 

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