A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award
of Master of Laws (LL.M) Commercial Law of Mzumbe University
Since historic times, bill of lading constitutes one of the oldest forms of contract in
international trade. However, it has undergone various transformations from a document
of receipt of goods shipped to a document of title representing the goods it describes.
Technological advancement has contributed to the great extent to affect the form of a
bill of lading in particular. When these happen the mercantile world has already been
witnessed traditional paper-based bill of lading lost its merchantability due to the
problems caused by delay, fraud and high cost of generating and processing paper
documents which slowed down the development of international trade at large.
Solution to the problems of traditional paper-based bill of lading was to introduce the
use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in shipping practice by substituting paper
documents with electronic alternatives particularly by replicating the features of
traditional bill of lading with electronic bill of lading. Unfortunately, electronic bill of
lading has faced many legal obstacles in the process of substituting the paper-based bill
of lading. Nevertheless, the outmoded legal framework is considered as the major
obstacle towards the recognition of electronic bill of lading in international trade.
However, some private initiatives have accepted the challenges and they have
introduced various private rules trying to overcome the legal uncertainties of electronic
bill of lading.
This study has critically examined the legal framework which regulates the contract of
carriage of goods by sea, and further it studied how the legal framework has slowed
down the recognition of electronic bill of lading in commercial transactions in Tanzania.
Along with it, the study has critically examined some relevant projects of electronic bill
of lading and their respective rules, and further, it shows how far these projects
overcome the legal uncertainties of e-BL especially the negotiability aspect of traditional
bill of lading. Lastly, the study has recommended that the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act
should be amended, and the government should enact specific laws for electronic
transactions in order to make e-BL being recognised in commercial transactions in
Tanzania.