Marine International Electronic Bill of Lading and Its Functions

The increasing process of dematerialization of international shipping documents, especially shipping through the sea using electronic instruments, is being increased day by day because of its speed, low cost and accuracy of electronic environment. In this regard, issuing bill of lading as the most important document for shipping goods in electronic form has been constantly the focus national and international legislation projects over the decades. Three important efforts at international level in this field include Bolero regulations, CMI and UNCITRAL that have tried to realize 3 functions of paper bill of lading (including considering bill of lading as a contract for carriage, receipt of goods delivery and ownership document) for electronic bills in hyperspace. Despite to realization of two functions of shipping contract evidence and receipt of goods in regard with replacing paper bill with electronic bill, concerning ownership, majority of authors believe that considering bill of lading as ownership document should be recognized by means of international business procedure as well.