A Study on the Civil Liability of Freight Forwarders under Chinese Law - Focus on the Regulations on the Trial of Disputes over Ocean Freight Forwarding -

Abstract

With the highly competitive market, the functions of the freight forwarders have changed a lot. They are not only the link between the owner of the goods and the carrier, but also undertake many duties and can act as the mere agent, the contracting carrier or the performing carrier, while these may led to the arguments in judicial procedure with economic disputes. On such basis, the Supreme People’s Court of China had promulgated the Regulations concerning the trial of disputes over ocean freight forwarding. This article aims to outline the highlights of the Regulation on the identification of freight forwarders and their civil liability, and hope to answer and explain the detention of documents, the delivery of transport documents under FOB Terms, notice of loss or damage, time bar and jurisdiction over disputes of freight forwarding service.