The Research Of The Changes On Carrier’s Obligations In The Rotterdam Rules

The system of carrier responsibilities and obligations is not only the core of the law that about theinternational carriage of goods by sea,but also the negotiation focus of both shipper and carrier.Throughcontinuous efforts,the international community have developed a unique carrier responsibilitiessystem.However,because the international maritime laws currently in force are not unified,and many oftheir provisions have lost the legislative foundation,so these laws can not adopt to the demands of timesdevelopment,and greatly hinder the development of international trade.Therefore,in1999,the UNCITRALentrust the CMI with a project to formulate a new international maritime convention in order to realize themodernization and international uniform of the law which is about international carriage of goods bysea.This convention was passed at UNC on December11,2008,and was named “Rotterdam rules”.Thethesis adopt the method of comparative analysis, compared Rotterdam rules with Hague rules,Visby rulesand Hamburg rules to explore Rotterdam rules’greatly reform on the responsibilities and obligations of thecarrier,anlyze the rationality of the reform and the difference from China system of carrierresponsibilities.Finally,I give some pieces of advice to perfect China’s“Martime Law”.Besides the preface and conclusion,the thesis consists of five parts.The first part analyze the reform on carrier responsibility system in Rotterdam rules. By comparing theRotterdam rules with the three international conventions in force currently, I think it is rational for theRotterdam rules to define the period of carrier’s responsibility as “door to door”,because this regulationresponse to the development of container trade.At the same time,the basis of carrier’s responsibility inRotterdam rules was defined as complete fault liability system to re-balance the requirements betweenshipper and carrier.In this part,on the carrier’s responsibility form,I also think the new convention adoptminimal network system will promote unification of international maritime law.The second part discuss the great breakthrough of carrier’s obligation that they must deliver goodsbased on negotiable copy in Rotterdam rules.By analyzing the history of carrier’s delivery obligation andthe different provisions of carrier’s delivery obligation under different transport documents,I think, theprovisions that the Rotterdam rules permit the carrier to delivery goods without negotiable copy under certain conditions have both positive and negative impacts.According to their own interests,all countriescan decide whether to accept this approach.The third part is about the reform of the carrier’s obligation of seaworthiness.In this part,starting withthe history of the obligation of seaworthiness,I researched the subject,period,subjective and objectiverequirements of this obligation in Rtterdam rules.Also,I studied the consequences and the allocation of theburden of proof if the carrier violate this obligation.At the same time,I analyzed the impacts of thereform.At last,I think although this reform has negative impacts on some maritime legal system,on thewhole,it meet the development of times and is helpful to balance the interests between shipper and carrier.The fourth part analyze the change of the carrier’s exemptionam in Rotterdam rules.In this part,on theone hand,I analyzed the change of the carrier’s exemption,especially the abolishment of“nautical faultexemptionand”and“fire fault exemption”, on the other hand,I further studied the effect of the reform onboth sides and maritime laws and how to response to the effect.The fifth part is about the effect of the Rotterdam rules on perfecting China’s maritime law.Accordingto the difference of carieer’s system between the Rotterdam and China’s martime law,I think the advancednature of the Rotterdam Rules will promote the improvement of China’s maritime law.So I give somesuggestions,for example,in China’s maritime law,the period of carrier’s responsibility should be extendedto“door to door”, the basis of carrier’s responsibility should adopt complete fault system,as to theobligation of seaworthiness,we should learn substantive provisions of the Rotterdam Rules,we should retainthe “nautical fault exemption”,perfect the “fire fault exemption”.Finally,based on national conditions, it issuggested that China should consider both transaction convenience and transaction security,shoulddeliberately decide whether to join the Rotterdam rules.