Study On The Electronic Transpotr Record System And The Reflections On The Modification Of China’s "Maritime Law"

With the development of international maritime cargo transportation,disadvantage of Bill of lading, the conventional transport documents, that do not keepup with the times in international maritime cargo transport practice has been exposedgradually. This disadvantage gives both carrier and shipper especially carrier kinds ofmaritime transport trade issues and maritime disputes, carrier delivery of goodswithout original Bill of lading is the most typical and most common problem.At the same time, due to the rapid development of electronic communicationespecially Internet technology, which has brought inspiration and technical supportfor the development and innovation of transport documents, electronic documentsemerged and develop followed such trend. In just three decades time, either maritimetransportation practice circle or maritime law academic circle made effort to promotethe development of electronic document system. The latest and the mostcomprehensive acknowledgement in legal authority and applicatory for electronicdocuments is United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriageof Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (hereafter referred to as "The Rotterdam Rules ")，which was passed by the United Nations on December11,2008in the63rd the67thSession of the UN General Assembly."The Rotterdam Rules" see the "ElectronicTransport Record" as a new transport document system which has equal status withthe Bill of lading in this international treaty, and provide provisions and regulationsabout the operation of the electronic transport record in detail. This makes theElectronic Transport Records becomes an operable in legal level and foreseeableguidance for jobholders in maritime transport practice area and judicial practice area.Thus, in recent years, some scholars began to study on the electronic transport recordsystem, while I noted that domestic scholars focus on the electronic transport recordmostly limited in the comparative analysis between electronic transport record withtraditional transport documents or the study on the innovative significance ofelectronic transport record, lack of depth study on the electronic transport record itself and the possible issues emerge in practice. This article based on such historicalbackground and practical background, trying to find in-depth Analysis of theelectronic transport record system. Meanwhile, because of that the transportdocument system is an important part of the relationship and even the core contentbetween the maritime cargo transport and the associated legal institutions, so thatevery adjustment and innovation in the transport document system will bring atremendous impact to the field of maritime law. As the innovation products in the eraof e-commerce, electronic documents system can be gradually accepted and widelyused or not is worth to look forward to. China’s "Maritime law" has no specificprovisions relating to electronic documents, so in order to adapt to the trend ofelectronic transport documents electronically in the future, and it is necessary toabsorb and learn from "The Rotterdam Rules" in modifying the "Maritime law". So,consider based on the above two levels, and take the study on electronic transportrecords and the modification of "Maritime Law" as the theme to write this paper. Thispaper is divided into two parts, seven chapters in total, the first part consist of chapterI to chapter VI, mainly analysis the modification of the "Maritime law" from the viewof electronic transport record system. Chapter I is the summarize to electronictransport record, introduce and analysis the electronic transport record and relatedconcepts; Chapter II is the function of electronic transport record, demonstrate threefunctions of electronic transport record; Chapter III is the transferability of electronictransport record, overall discuss the transferability of electronic transport record,contribute to a better understanding of the electronic transport record functions andrecognize the value of electronic transport records; Chapter IV is the use of electronictransport record, this chapter is not simply introduce the flow of electronic transportrecords, but to discuss the special requirements and problems that may arise in usage;Chapter V is the significance of the electronic transport record, this chapter is toanalyze the value and advantages of the electronic transport record; Chapter VI isabout the related issues to the "electronic transport record", here will discuss aroundthe pledge and the settlement of exchange such two non-electronic transport recordsystem itself issues, to makes the readers to understand the role the electronictransport record played in modern international commerce better. Chapter VII is the thinking to the modification of "Maritime Law", this chapter constitute the secondpart. Although this chapter is not the key point in this paper and only consist a smallpart, but I believe that this part has very important practical significance for maritimeindustry. By the discussion and the analysis to this issue, it shows the author’sresearch perspective and way of thinking. Anyway, I hope that through these sevenchapters to carry an in-depth analysis on the electronic transport record system on thelegal system level, and study the electronic transport record such a single-issue frommacroscopic view to microcosmic.