The legal implications of the electronic bill of lading

Abstract

In today's fast evolving technological way of conducting business, many shipping documents can be replaced by electronic messages with very little or no difficulty. However, electronic bills of lading present certain legal and technical problems, which have made it more difficult for their adoption and use in electronic format. Their use is desirable in the sphere of international trade and commerce because they are fast, efficient, and offer certain major advantages over the traditional bill of lading. This thesis seeks to outline and analyse the legal issues emanating therefrom. The methodology of this thesis is simple, namely deconstructing the nature of the document we are dealing with, its origins, evolution and its future. The latter is not abundantly clear as there have been some successes, and some failures in attempting to solve the riddle, which are the determining factors in my conclusions as set out in the final chapter in terms of what the way forward may look like. Issues which have been dealt with here include the current legislative framework for bills of lading, their legal status, their practical use in international carriage of goods, and also a brief explanation of the electronic environment within which the bill of lading must function in order to be successful. The research also seeks to identify the main obstacles currently hindering the development of the bill of lading, and offer alternative procedures for how these may be overcome.