The Rotterdam Rules and Negotiable Electronic Transport Documents in Letter of Credit Business

This paper considers the implications of Bills of Lading issued as negotiable electronic transport documents for the maritime international carriage of goods, as proposed by the Rotterdam Rules. The legal usage of paper based documents is considered first. This is followed by discussion of the practical challenges that electronic negotiable Bills of Lading may pose, particularly in the lodgment of electronic records under international letter of credit transactions. The paper concludes that current business practices within the international trade, shipping and banking industries need substantial changes before this type of electronic document can be introduced successfully.