2007년 商法 海商編의 編制 및 複合運送에 대한 改正經緯와 그 內容

Abstract

This article originates from the address delivered at the 2007 Fall conference of the Korean Maritime Law Association held in Seoul. Two separate issues of (i) the reshuffle of structure and (ii) inserting provisions on the combined transport in the Maritime Law Section (Book V) of the 2007 revised Korean Commercial Code are dealt. The new Code makes it clear that the contract of carriage has two different forms namely as the contract of carriage for individual goods (same as common carriage of goods) and voyage charter party. These two types of contracts are stipulated in the separate chapters. Several kinds of charter parties such as bareboat charter party, time charter party and voyage charter party have their own chapters with definition and each party's right and obligation. It can be said that new Code paves the way for the another new enactment for Korean COGSA in the near future, now that the contract of the carriage for individual goods has a separate chapter. Whether Article 806 is applicable or not when the time charterer acts as the contracting carrier has been one of the hottest issue in Korea. This controversy is solved by the new enactment that in the above case, the Article 806 will be applicable and thus the owner is liable with the time charterer as the contracting carrier. However, the new Code limited it only to the contract for individual goods at the final contract of carriage stage and thus voyage charter party is excluded. The current Code does not have a provision on the combined transport. The new Code comes to have a provision on the Maritime Law section (Book V) rather than the general section of the commercial activities (Book I & II) because the mandate for the revision is only limited to the maritime law. As a result, the provision is applicable only for a combined transport including sea carriage. Under new Code, network liability system is adopted. In the case of concealed damages, the law applicable in the geographic transport section which is the longest among several section will be applied. These new provisions will bring predictability and foreseeability into the maritime industries.