Legal Risk Controal Of Electronic Bills Of Lading

Nowadays, electronic bills of lading are brought in the field ofcarriage of goods by sea. However, there are still some legal risks andlegal responsibility need to be solved in the safety of operation.To establish a worldwide trading circumstance of electronic bills oflading, we need not only uniform standards and operability, but also avery important prerequisite, which is security. This includes technical andlegal safety. The transfers of electronic documents need to be real,complete, confidential and legally valid. Safety is the basic of thedevelopment and widely use of electronic bills of lading. And this is thefirst issue we should solve when we want to substitute electronic bills oflading for traditional ones. This paper aims to analyze the safety ofelectronic bills of lading from legal aspect, and discuss how to control itslegal risks.On the basis of research the safety loophole of running electronicbills of lading, I conclude four legal risks of E-bills of lading. They arethe legal responsibility of reliability of the computer network, the legalissues of authenticity of traders’ identities, the secrecy and validity ofE-bills of lading, and their evidentiary effects. The writer studies the legalrisks of these security elements one by one in this paper.Finally, we can draw these following conclusions: First of all, weshould improve our network security awareness. Now with the development of Internet, the security condition of E-commerce is ratherpoor, and there are international hackers who attack and steal confidentialinformation through the Internet. We should attach high importance to itand establish a better legal system. Secondly, only if the legal risk controlof E-bills of lading is solved, more and more enterprises want to use it.We need to ensure the reliability and validity of E-bills of lading throughlegal means. Thirdly, Bolero is a system which creates a trading platformfor E-bills of lading. Its ultimate goal is to establish a fully electronicenvironment which makes sure the E-business can run safely andindependently. Our domestic shipping enterprises can consider joining in.What’s more, laws on the security of E-bills of lading in China need to beimproved. Only the remaining concerns about legal risks have beensolved, and legal recognition assured, can E-bills of lading develop safelyand widely.