Impact of the Rotterdam Rules on the Legislation on Electronic Bill of Lading

INTRODUCTION. International unification of rules governing carriage of goods by sea has been of high importance. Historical, economic and political background as well as different approaches to adoption, ratification and entry into force of international legal acts impede harmonization of national laws. However, in spite of all these difficulties carriage of goods by sea is subject to international lawmaking which has a huge impact on the development of commercial intercourse and commercial transactions. Today the market of goods and services requires business to use the advantages of digital economy including electronic means of communication such as an electronic transport documents. An electronic bill of lading is one of the most important marine transport documents. As digital economy is moving forward digital transformation of carriage of goods by sea must not fall behind. Russian companies as well as international business community in general are in need for legal rules guiding digitalization of the bill of lading including its issuance and passage of title to the goods.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. This study is based on international conventions, model laws, domestic and foreign legislation as well as some other legal acts. Various methods applied in the course of this study resulted in different technical and juridical means of research including analytical review, synthesis, induction, deduction and formal legal analysis.

RESEARCH RESULTS. Scientific and practical aspects of this study have identified the need for the introduction of new forms of transport documents in international merchant shipping. The study has also demonstrated how to reach this target by implementing the rules of international conventions and national laws. The Rotterdam Rules have appeared to be the first codification of rules on electronic transport documents at an international level. However, they have not yet entered into force and are awaiting reflection in national legislation. As a bill of lading is a security its digital transformation requires hard work and true understanding of its legal nature. Lawmakers should take into account that a bill of lading is a document of title and can be used as a way to assign rights to the goods.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The researcher comes to a conclusion that the adoption of international conventions, model laws and rules of foreign and domestic legislation leads to the introduction of new forms of transport documents to accompany international trade such as an electronic bill of lading. Impact of digital transformation of a bill of lading on carriage of goods by sea has been under scrutiny by national and foreign scholars whose opinions are reflected in this article. Both Russian and foreign laws have undergone legal reforms facilitating the passage of title to the goods from the consignor to the carrier under an electronic bill of lading. At the same time there is a need to protect legal interests of the owner of the goods and to invent new means of transferring the title to the goods. In this respect instruments offered by digital law and digital economy provide quite a good solution. For this reason legislation on electronic bill of lading must be subject to further development. An electronic bill of lading shall be qualified as a separate legal category which must go in parallel with digital law and may entail changes in Russian civil and shipping laws. The legal nature of a bill of lading is different from other types of securities as it is governed not only by civil legislation, but also by rules on carriage of goods by sea which is under great influence of international lawmaking. Implementation of international acts take different forms. This article illustrates how national laws reflect international rules on electronic transport documents specified in The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea 2008, also known as the Rotterdam Rules.

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