A Study On The Legal Status Of Performing Assistants Of Marine Transportation In Taiwan

With the development of productivity, the scope of transportation has beendeveloping into door to door from side to side. In order to complete the entiretransportation, more and more enterprises are involved in the process. This is anirreversible trend of logistic industry. Besides the carrier, the other enterprises’ legalstatus is becoming more and more important. As a result, conventions made threechanges which include the legalization of Himalaya Clause, the actual carrier systemand the maritime performing party system to respond the trend of practice. Domesticlaw has been adjusted accordingly. Considering the frequent communication betweenMainland and Taiwan since the alleviation of the relationship between them, it isnecessary to research the legal status on performing assistants.Based on the materials obtained, the study of this area is not plentiful and beinglack of the comparison between Mainland and Taiwan. Whereas the situation, thisarticle starts form the analysis of transportation practice, dividing the performingassistants into the person who actually doing the transport on the sea and the personwho operates in the area of port. The key point of this article is the compare of thetwo kinds of performing assistants.The scope and roles of the maritime performing assistants is the first thing whichshould be clarified. This article will expound the performing assistants’ scope in thecivil law of Taiwan. After that, the performing assistants will be divided according to the relationship between them and carrier. They will also be divided according to theperiod of responsibility. At last, this article will explain the meaning of the division.The legal status of the person who actually performs the transportation on the seais one of the key points of this article. The situation of transport practice in Taiwanwill be discussed. After analyze the practical situation, this article will explain thedifference between Mainland and Taiwan and find the reason further.As another key point, the legal status of port operators will be also discussed. Inthis part, the Article76of Maritime Law of Taiwan will be analyzed deeply to clarifyits nature. The benefits and shortages will be also discussed during comparing thedifference between Mainland and Taiwan.Finally, the advantages and the disadvantages of the current legal system ofperforming assistants will be stated. The great change that Rotterdam Rules hasbrought into the regulation of Performing Assistants will be discussed. There is apossibility that both sides of the Taiwan Straits’ law about performing assistants willgo in the same direction under the influence of Rotterdam Rules.