• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.153-172
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• 2018

In solving international commercial disputes, arbitration has a unique advantage. Therefore, when most parties sign a charter party, they contain arbitration clauses. Whether the arbitration clause in the charter party can be effectively incorporated into the bill of lading and bind to the third party-bill holder becomes an important issue. Based on the problem above, this paper compares the arbitration system between Korea and China, and discusses the composition of the Chinese Maritime Court and the Chinese court's adjudication of arbitration for foreign countries, which are recognized and enforced in China. What is most important in this study is observing the Chinese case from the beginning of 2000 to the present in order to rule whether the Chinese court can effectively incorporate the arbitration clause in the charter party into the bill of lading, as well as whether it constitutes an effective binding force for third parties and changes in standard of recognition. Finally, through comparative analysis, the study concludes that in China, the arbitration clause in the charter party can be effectively incorporated into the bill of lading, and that the conditions for the third parties can be effectively restrained. There must be several points to be noted when recording the bill of lading. This would then help reduce the legal risks and promote the sustainable development of international transactions.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.303-336
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• 2003

Incorporation of an arbitration clause by reference to other documents occurs in many international business transactions. The reference is either to another document that contains arbitration clause or to trading rules which contain the arbitration clause, without the main contract mentioning that arbitration has been agreed upon. In fact, incorporation by reference in to a contract of an arbitration clause set forth in another agreement is deemed valid in any number of circumstances, even when the parties to the two contractual instruments are not the same. Difficulties arise when, instead of an express arbitration provision, a contract contains a clause which refers to the trading rules of a certain trade association, so-called external arbitration clause. The U.S. courts which will presume that the parties intended to arbitrate under a particular set of rules when they expressly mentioned arbitration in their agreement, have sometimes refused to enforce contract clauses that do no more than refer to particular trading rules, even if these rules contain provisions binding the parties to arbitrate their disputes. The courts in such cases tend to be careful in determinig whether intent to arbitrate is present. In maritime contracts, the arbitration clause in a charter party is often referred to in the bill of lading. Such reference usually is held binding upon the parties to the contract of carriage, their knowledge of such practice being presumed. A nonsignatory may compell arbitration against a party to an arbitration agreement when that party has entered into a separate contractual relationship with the nonsignatory which incorporates the existing arbitration clause. If a party's arbitration clause is expressly incorporated into a bill of lading, nonsignatories … who are linked to that bill … may be bound to the arbitration agreement of others. An arbitration clause in a charterparty will be incorporated into a bill of lading if either - (a) there are specific words of incorporation in the bill, and the arbitration clause is so worded as to make sense in the context of the bill, and the clause dose not conflict with the express terms of the bill; or (b) there are general words of incorporation in the bill, and the arbitration clause or some other provision in the charter makes it clear that the clause is to govern disputes under the bill as well as under the charter. In all other cases, the arbitration clause is not incorporated into the bill.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.47
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• pp.49-78
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• 2010

The seller has to deliver goods and hand over documents as required by the contract. It is very important that ownership of goods shall be transferred by the documents from the seller to the buyer. Where terms of payments is made under documentary payment such as negotiable order Bill of lading or any transport documents for symbolic delivery of goods shall be more important between the parties concerned. The buyer may withdraw or cancel the contract where the buyer accept the foul Bill of Lading and demand damages where the buyer accept the other documents which are not in accordance with requirements by the buyer. Withdraw or cancel of contract can be made where discrepancy of documents comes into fundamental breach of contract. In conclusion transport documents by the seller will be used to determine appropriation of transport document to the contract. Therefore the seller has to deliver the proper shipping documents to the buyer. Where the breach of the seller's obligations to deliver documents the buyer has the right of requiring performance, contract avoided, claiming damage to recover the contract under CISG. The significance of transport documents has been focused in this study and careful examination of documents shall be needed to prevent any dispute or differences between the parties.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.61
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• pp.93-111
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• 2014

In this article, I have reviewed the validity of the Retla Clauses in bills of lading. In Tokio Marine(1970), US courts have permitted carriers to include Retla Clauses in their bills of lading that essentially disclaim all responsibility for the required statement. Simon J in The Saga Explorer(2012) disagreed with the decision of no representation in Tokio Marine and held that the statement with the Retla Clauses made on the bills of lading as to the cargo's apparent condition was a fraudulent misrepresentation. Simon J also requested a strong carriers' honest conduct. However, because the shippers always request the clean bill of lading for trade purpose and never call for a substitute bill of lading showing the true condition of goods, carriers will inevitably continue to clause bills of lading if they have no other better way of protecting themselves in the situation of Tokio Marine or The Saga Explorer. For the present, the decision of misrepresentation in The Saga Explorer might be helpless to change the position of the assignees of the bills of lading. And it seems that the debate on the validity of the Retla Clauses in bills of lading will be continued for the time being. In these circumstances, if the buyers hope to void the potential dispute, they may have a special agreement in the sale of goods contract, for example, requiring a pre-shipment inspection of the goods so as to know the actual condition of the goods on shipment.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.85-107
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• 2010

A comprehensive electronic trade portal such as the electronic bills of lading, e-negotiations and so on, is developed by the Korea Ministry of Knowledge Economy and International Trade Association and serviced by KTNET. The portal, so called u-TradeHub, formally started to provide its services on 22nd May, 2009. If the shipper issues electronic bills of lading, the negotiating bank examines it through the established e-Nego system. However, the issuing bank overseas cannot examine the electronic bills of lading, because any interactive system does not exist. So, after the e-Nego, the electronic bills of lading gets automatically transformed into the paper-type electronic bills of lading and issuing bank examine paper B/L. In process of examining documents, the beneficiary using electronic means in letter of credit transactions may face some risks such as the corruption to the electronic bill of lading after its issuance by the carrier, the corruption after e-Nego and the corruption after the presentation to the issuing bank. In this paper, we studied the problems on corruptions to occur in the middle of the examination process of the electronic bills of lading and suggestions how to solve them are discussed.

• The Journal of Information Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.119-140
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• 2005

The purpose of this article is to study on the electronic bill of lading in the electronic trade era. The term 'electronic trade' means all or part of any such trade as implemented by means of apparatus having the information processing capability, such as a computer, and networks of information and communications. The introduction of an electronic bill of lading has long been considered essential by the members of the international trading community as a key means of reducing its costly reliance on paper.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.69
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• pp.349-370
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• 2016

This thesis examines the problems faced in the electronic bill of lading for which improvements are necessary, and suggests various ways of overcoming those problems. First, to build a negotiation system for electronic B/Ls, active participation from related parties in addition to the government support is essential. Second, electronic B/Ls cannot be utilized within a short period of time in current commercial practices. Third, there should be infrastructure which connects all parties of international commerce through an electronic system. Fourth, instead of promoting mutual recognition through international treaty, there should be a plan which legally specifying mutual recognition between certification authorities. Fifth, it is needed to ease the strictness of electronic signature to promote the global negotiation of electronic B/Ls. Lastly, in prima facie weight of evidence, there was a significant difference with the Rotterdam Rules even in comparison with the Commercial Act which was amended with the significantly advanced rules on electronic B/L. He believed there should be a discreet consideration on these matters at the revision of the Commercial Act. For this, the government has to provide support more aggressively with more interest and commitments.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.129-153
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• 2004

In order to succeed in e-Trade Project in Korea, the related parties endeavor to introduce the e-title registry model such as Bolero model(Title Registry Model) and TEDI model (Repository Service Provider Model). Prior to mentioning the Model of e-Title Registry, desirable Global e-Trade Platform is the platform connecting Global e-Trade Platforms in each country and Bolero's Core Messaging Platform and e-Title Registry must be established in each country. Each e-Title Registry must be connected with another registry. Like Korea, Recognized Electronic Document Repository must be established as proxy for preserving, attesting, carrying out sending and receiving electronic document to prevent from disputes between parties and to carry out notarizing electronic documents and related transaction. The purpose of this paper is to promote the introduction of e-Title Registry in the e-Trade and to streamline the procedures of the electronic bill of lading.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.161-180
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• 2007

The electronic bill of lading system replacing with traditional paper B/L has been evolved from SeaDocs and CMI to Bolero system. Therefore e-B/L is considered as an evolving concept rather than fixed one because it has been changed with development of information technology. Bolero system designed to replicate all functions of a paper B/L has some limitation to be utilized as an e-B/L in changing international business arena because it has a centralized model. Therefore it is considered to be important that the current e-B/L operating system needs to be diversified. This paper aims to provide three types of the operating model of global e-B/L to be applied with feasible solution coping with the current problems, which is expected to contribute to the utilization of electronic bill of lading.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.68-83
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• 2019

Purpose - The UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (Model Law) is based on the principles of non-discrimination against the use of electronic means, functional equivalence, and technology neutrality underpinning all UNCITRAL texts on electronic commerce. Investigating the disagreements between the Model Law and the Koran Commercial Act (KC Act), including the B/L Regulation, and suggesting the revision of the KC Act including the B/L Regulation, could be a valuable study. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the harmonization of Korean legislation regarding electronic bill of lading in compliance with the Model Law. Design/methodology - The Model Law is flexible to accommodate the use of all technologies and models, such as registries, tokens, and distributed ledgers: that is, blockchain. In 2007, the KC Act was revised to regulate electronic bills of lading to promote the widespread legal use of electronic bills of lading. In addition, The Regulation on Implementation of the Provisions of the Commercial Act Regarding Electronic Bills of Lading (the B/L Regulation) was enacted to regulate the detailed procedures in using electronic bills of lading in 2008. This paper employs a legal analysis by which this paper does find differences between two rules in light of technology neutrality and global standard of electronic bills of lading model. Findings - The main findings are as follows: i) the Korean registry agency has characteristics of a closed system. ii) The KC Act has no provision regarding control. iii) The KC Act discriminates other electronic bills of lading on the ground that it was issued or used abroad. Moreover, this study does comprehensive analysis of Korean Acts in comparison with the Model Law and, in particular, this study analyzes the differences between the KC Act and the Model Law by comparing article by article in view of the harmonization of the two rules. Originality/value - The subject of previous several studies was draft provisions on Electronic Transferable Records before completion of the Model Law; thus, these studies did not take into consideration the character of the Model Law as the Model Law was chosen at the final stage of legislation. This study is aimed at the final version of the Model Law. So, this study is meaningful by finding the suggestion and directions for the Korean government to revise the KC Act and the B/L Regulation in line with the Model Law.