Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
THE CMI RULES FOR ELECTRONIC BILLS OF LADING REASSESSED IN THE LIGHT OF CURRENT PRACTICES
Miriam Goldby *
This article examines current practices relative to electronic alternatives to bills of lading, looking in particular at the “remote printing” system operated by American President Lines (APL). It discusses how this system puts into effect the basic notions and assumptions underlying the CMI’s Rules for Electronic Bills of Lading and also tests the system against the provisions of UNCITRAL’s current draft for a future Convention on the Carriage of Goods. Finally, it anticipates the form that future developments may take
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1. INTRODUCTION
It is now almost two decades since the Comité Maritime International (CMI) adopted its Rules for Electronic Bills of Lading. The Rules were criticized in the aftermath of their adoption and failed to establish a widely used model for the use of electronic equivalents to paper bills of lading.
In spite of the criticisms levelled against them, the Rules were founded on certain basic notions and assumptions which are now proving to have been correct. This article will look at current developments in the use of electronic equivalents to paper bills, and on the basis of these developments, and one case study in particular, it will suggest that the validity of the basic notions and assumptions underlying the CMI Rules is being confirmed in practice.
The article will also look at how UNCITRAL’s current draft for a future Convention on the Carriage of Goods embodies these notions and at whether and if so how current systems would comply with its requirements.
2. THE CMI RULES FOR ELECTRONIC BILLS OF LADING
a. An overview of the CMI Rules
In 1990 CMI adopted its Rules for Electronic Bills of Lading (“the Rules”).1
The system envisaged by the Rules only applies if they are incorporated into the contract of carriage by the parties.2
The system is an open one in that it does not require users to register with or become members of a central registry or service provider. The workings of the CMI