The Volume Contract Under The Rotterdam Rules And The Influence On China

In its sixty-seventh plenary meeting of sixty-third session, the UN General Assembly passes 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 take the volume contract into the scope of the adjustment. Therefore, it’s necessary to fully understand this part in the "Rotterdam Rules".This article will firstly discuss the concept of volume contract and its extension and also compare it with other similar concepts, then suggest a precise definition of volume contracts.Then this article will analyzes the special terms about volume contract jurisdiction and arbitration under the "Rotterdam Rules",and will also analyzes the core issues of freedom of contract as well as the protection of a third person.On this basis, this article will analysis the potential effect the volume contract rules would make to Chinese shipping industry and our countermeasures, and last, from the legal point of view, this article will make some legislative suggestion to volume contract system in China, to make it more accommodate and to promote the development of Chinese shipping and trade.