The Volume Contract Introduces The Principle Of Freedom Of Contract Under The Rotterdam Rules

In 2008 the United Nations General Assembly passed The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, also known as the Rotterdam Rules. Compared with the previous Conventions on the Carriage of Goods by Sea, one innovation of Rotterdam Rules is it is first establish the volume contract and allow the free negotiation between the parties. This very type of the contract have benefited the industry for quite a long time, yet no international rules or the laws of a particular country has set a universal regulation upon it. The Rotterdam Rules has filled the blank of the law in time, thus promoting the international maritime transportation.This paper is divided into three parts, the first part introduces the limits on the freedom of contract in current Conventions on the Carriage of Goods by Sea. Then in order to adapt the development of the industry of maritime transportation, the Rotterdam Rules establishes the volume contract and introduces the principle of freedom of contract. The rules breaks through the tradition that the international Conventions on the Carriage of Goods by Sea limit the freedom of contract strictly, and reflects the moderate return of contractual freedom. The second part starts from the dispute of volume contract, including if the definition of volume contract is too broad, if the volume contract can protect the rights of shippers and the third person. The paper wishes to make objective analysis and discussion on articles about volume contract, based on the current conditions of international maritime transportation, to clarify the rules of volume contract can protect the rights of shippers and the third person adequately. However, the definition of volume contract needs some qualifications to raise the threshold. The third part mainly analyses the potential effects the volume contract would make to Chinese shipping industry, carrier and shipper especially small and medium shipper, then proposes several measures from different angles. And then the paper speculates some economic and legal affects of volume contract to prove its rationality. In the last part, this article will make some legislative suggestion to volume contract system in China Maritime Law, based on the regulation of Rotterdam Rules and the current conditions of China. The writer hopes that we could establish the regime of volume contract that will not only respect freedom of contract between parties, but also fully take into account the equity arid justice of contract, so as to promote the prosperous development of enterprises of shipping and trade of China.