Legal Research On Electronic Bill Of Lading Circulation Mechanism

After commercial practice of conventional bill of lading (BOL) and development of legal system for centuries, the international legislation and international convention for BOL has formed highly unity, which is attested by wide adoption of The Hague-Visby Rules. Functional diversity is the prominent advantage of BOL. Especially, the function of document of title can not only realize the negotiability of transported cargo recorded in the BOL, but also collateralize BOL in documentary credit and maritime trade financing. In modern society, the rapid development of modern communication and shipping technology increase the headway, and shorten the shipping period. Modern container loading and unloading technology greatly cut ship detention time. However, circulation time for BOL is not shortened. As a result,"goods arrival before bills"happens frequently. Whereas the BOL's existing precondition is its earlier arrival than goods, the contradiction gradually loses the vitality of BOL and even threatens its existence.To change the situation and comply with globalization, e-commerce is applied to marine cargo transportation insurance. Under the circumstances, the electronic bill of lading (e-BOL) is created successfully in combination with EDI technique and traditional BOL. E-BOL dramatically reduces labor cost, escalates BOL's negotiability and thus solves the problem of"goods arrival before bills". Since the end of 20th century, e-BOL has been developing quickly in the area of marine cargo transportation insurance as the successful operation of Bolero circulation mechanism. It is the irresistible general trend that e-BOL will take the place of traditional BOL.Despite the fast expansion of e-BOL, its commercial practice is still immature and specific laws for e-BOL circulation are still blank. Therefore, it is necessary to research the circulation mechanism of e-BOL..This dissertation consists of four parts, around twenty thousand words totally.The first part is on the basis of the different form of expression of electronic and conventional BOL, including brief introduction of e-BOL's conception, analysis the e-BOL's function by the Doctrine of equivalents, illustration the gap between the e-BOL's legislation and its realization and examples of SeaDocs project (1986), CMI rules for electronic bills of lading (1990) and Bolero (Bills of lading electronic registry organization) project (1994) and the reasons of success or failure of the projects mentioned above.The second part presents the principle of basic laws in e-BOL, emphasizing the concept of"control"in e-BOL and its application in electronic circulation mechanism. The entire part is expounded through the"control"conception, which is used to demonstrate the advantages of registry mechanism compared with tracking mechanism. And the reason of the preference of registry mechanism is showed lastly.The third part analyzes Bolero project's framework and its law principles from several aspects. This part majorly estimates the rationality and safety of realizing the negotiability of e-BOL under Bolero mechanism. Furthermore, the optimistic attitude is indicated that Bolero mechanism could turn into commercial practice according to its prospects.The last part lists several legislation proposals for e-BOL circulation mechanism and anticipates that both national and international legislation bodies can use for reference of the successful experience of the Bolero project in e-BOL practice and perfect related laws for e-BOL circulation mechanism. To adapt e-BOL's future development trend, the author recommends that e-BOL's core content registry mechanism should be specific provided, such as work out explicit laws of the qualification of registrant, the requirement of registration and the legal force of registration.