On The Carrier's Liability Regime Under The Uncitral Draft Law On The Transport Of Major Changes

The carrier's liability basis system is the core of the law of carriage of goods by sea, which reflects the conflict of interest between the carrier and the merchant, obstructs or promotes the development of the international trade and the shipping, represents the trends of legislation and the mainstream thoughts of a nation, area, or even an age. At present, the law of carriage of goods by sea in the world conflicts so much, so the provisions of the basis of liability are not consistent. However, since the ambiguity of the related international conventions and various domestic legislations, as well as the differences in practice, there have been lots of controversy and misunderstandings regarding to this issue for a long time. For this reason, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) commenced to prepare the draft of Transport Law, which can be applied in all transport models. This article starts from the angles of history, legal material requirements, legal theory etc. and through systematic analysis the liability system provided in the Draft of Transport Law and compared with the three traditional international conventions, to research the trend of carrier's liability.After analyzing relevant provisions in CMC Chapter four, the author put forward some suggestions concerning revisions on some articles which are controversial and do not follow the trend. The paper consists of six chapters.Chapter one is primarily dedicated to the status quo and existing problems in the Law of Carriage of Goods by Sea. The author deems it necessary to unify the law, whether for the sake of reducing costs, promoting trade or just following the trend.With contrastive analysis on the carrier's period of responsibility specified in international conventions in different periods, Chapter two of this paper assumes it reasonable that the Draft adopt door-to-door period of responsibility and minimum network liability system in view of current situation in shipping. The author, in this chapter, proposes that the carrier's period of responsibility as is stipulated in CMC should be extended from the time of receiving the goods to the delivery of the goods.Chapters three, four and five are the focus of this paper. After careful analysis on provisions concerning carrier's responsibilities as stated in international conventions and the Drafts, the author thinks it is inevitable that nautical fault exemption be eliminated. And principle of fault adopted by the Draft is bound to prevail in the world in the future.In light of the fact that carriers have to take more responsibilities nowadays, the seaworthiness obligation should be extended to the whole process, though its role as the overriding obligation has been on the wane. In view of the flaws in CMC concerning provisions on carrier's responsibilities, the author put forward some reasonable proposals on updating provisions in relation to carrier's liabilities in hope of making it in line with the practices in the world.Chapter six mainly deals with delay in delivery. In this chapter the author offers some proposals in relation to the revision of the definition of carrier's delay in delivery and limitations of liability.Facing major trends of carrier's liability is getting more and more heavy, The final section of this paper is dedicated to the measures that can be taken by China to tackle this problem.