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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
SEA-CARRIAGE
DOCUMENTS BILL 1996
Queensland
SEA-CARRIAGE DOCUMENTS BILL 1996
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section Page
PART 1--PRELIMINARY
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4 Electronic and computerised sea-carriage documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5 Application if goods have ceased to exist, or can not be identified . . . . . . 6
PART 2--RIGHTS UNDER CONTRACTS OF CARRIAGE
6 Transfer of rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7 Extinguishment of previous rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PART 3--LIABILITIES UNDER CONTRACTS OF CARRIAGE
8 Transfer of liabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
9 Liability of original parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
PART 4--EVIDENCE
10 Shipment under bills of lading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
PART 5--MINOR AMENDMENTS
11 Acts amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
SCHEDULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
MINOR AMENDMENTS
MERCANTILE ACT 1867 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
PARTNERSHIP (LIMITED LIABILITY) ACT 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1996
A BILL
FOR
An Act to reform the law relating to bills of lading, sea waybills and
ships' delivery orders, and for other purposes
s1 4 s3
Sea-Carriage Documents
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
PART 1--PRELIMINARY 2
title 3
Short
1. This Act may be cited as the Sea-Carriage Documents Act 1996. 4
5
Application
2. This Act applies only in relation to sea-carriage documents coming 6
into existence on or after the commencement of this section. 7
8
Definitions
3. In this Act-- 9
"bill of lading" means a bill of lading (including a received for shipment 10
bill of lading) capable of transfer-- 11
(a) by endorsement; or 12
(b) as a bearer bill, by delivery without endorsement. 13
"contract of carriage", in relation to a sea-carriage document, means-- 14
(a) for a bill of lading or a sea waybill--the contract of carriage 15
contained in, or evidenced by, the document; or 16
(b) for a ship's delivery order--the contract of carriage in association 17
with which the order is given. 18
"data message" means information generated, stored or communicated by 19
electronic, optical or analogous means, including electronic data 20
interchange, electronic mail, telegram, telex and telecopy. 21
"goods", in relation to a sea-carriage document, means the goods to which 22
the document relates. 23
"identification", of a person in a sea-carriage document, includes 24
identification of the person by a description that allows the person's 25
s3 5 s3
Sea-Carriage Documents
identity to be varied, in accordance with the document, after its issue. 1
"lawful holder", of a bill of lading, means a person who-- 2
(a) has come into possession of the bill, in good faith, as the 3
consignee of the goods, because the person is identified in the bill; 4
or 5
(b) has come into possession of the bill, in good faith, as a result of 6
the completion, by delivery of the bill-- 7
(i) of any endorsement of the bill; or 8
(ii) for a bearer bill--of any other transfer of the bill; or 9
(c) would be the lawful holder of the bill under paragraph (a) or (b) 10
had not the person come into possession of the bill as the result of 11
a transaction effected at a time when possession of the bill no 12
longer gave a right as against the carrier to possession of the 13
goods. 14
"sea-carriage document" means a bill of lading, a sea waybill or a ship's 15
delivery order. 16
"sea waybill" means a document, other than a bill of lading, that-- 17
(a) is issued by the carrier of the goods; and 18
(b) is a receipt for the goods; and 19
(c) contains or evidences a contract for the carriage of the goods by 20
sea; and 21
(d) identifies the person to whom delivery of the goods is to be made 22
by the carrier in accordance with the contract. 23
"ship's delivery order" means a document, other than a bill of lading or a 24
sea waybill, that-- 25
(a) is given in association with a contract for the carriage of goods by 26
sea, including goods to which the document relates; and 27
(b) contains an undertaking by the carrier to deliver the goods to 28
which the document relates to a person identified in the 29
document. 30
s4 6 s5
Sea-Carriage Documents
and computerised sea-carriage documents 1
Electronic
4.(1) This Act applies, with necessary changes, to a sea-carriage 2
document in the form of a data message in the same way as it applies to a 3
written sea-carriage document. 4
(2) This Act applies, with necessary changes, to the communication of a 5
sea-carriage document by means of a data message in the same way as it 6
applies to the communication of a sea-carriage document by other means. 7
(3) This Act applies, with necessary changes-- 8
(a) to a sea-carriage document in the form of a data message; or 9
(b) to the communication of a sea-carriage document by means of a 10
data message; 11
in accordance with procedures agreed between the parties to the contract of 12
carriage. 13
(4) Without limiting subsection (3), in this Act, for a sea-carriage 14
document in the form of a data message, or the communication of a 15
sea-carriage document by means of a data message-- 16
"delivery" includes any form of communication that constitutes delivery 17
under the terms of the contract of carriage. 18
"endorsement" includes any form of authorisation that constitutes 19
endorsement under the terms of the contract of carriage. 20
"possession", of the document, includes being in receipt of the document 21
in any way that constitutes possession under the terms of the contract 22
of carriage. 23
"signed" includes authenticated in any way that constitutes signing under 24
the terms of the contract of carriage. 25
if goods have ceased to exist, or can not be identified 26
Application
5. Without limiting section 6(4) or 10, nothing in this Act prevents the 27
Act applying to a sea-carriage document if the goods-- 28
(a) cease to exist after the issue of the document; or 29
(b) can not be identified (whether because they are mixed with other 30
goods, or for any other reason). 31
s6 7 s6
Sea-Carriage Documents
PART 2--RIGHTS UNDER CONTRACTS OF 1
CARRIAGE 2
of rights 3
Transfer
6.(1) All rights under the contract of carriage in relation to which a 4
sea-carriage document is given are transferred to-- 5
(a) for a bill of lading--each successive lawful holder of the bill; or 6
(b) for a sea waybill--the person (other than an original party to the 7
contract) to whom delivery of the goods is to be made by the 8
carrier in accordance with the contract; or 9
(c) for a ship's delivery order--the person to whom delivery of the 10
goods is to be made in accordance with the order. 11
(2) Rights in a contract of carriage transferred to a person under 12
subsection (1) vest in that person as if the person had been an original party 13
to the contract. 14
(3) Rights in a contract of carriage in relation to which a ship's delivery 15
order is given are transferred under subsection (1)-- 16
(a) subject to the terms of the order; and 17
(b) only in relation to the goods to which the order relates. 18
(4) If a person becomes the lawful holder of a bill of lading when 19
possession of the bill no longer gives a right as against the carrier to 20
possession of the goods, no rights are transferred to that person under 21
subsection (1) unless the person becomes the lawful holder of the bill-- 22
(a) because of a transaction effected under any contractual or other 23
arrangement made before the possession of the bill ceased to give 24
that right to possession; or 25
(b) because of the re-endorsement of the bill following rejection to 26
that person by another person of goods or documents delivered to 27
the other person under any contractual or other arrangement made 28
before the possession of the bill ceased to give that right to 29
possession. 30
(5) If, in relation to a sea-carriage document-- 31
s7 8 s7
Sea-Carriage Documents
(a) a person with any interest or right in relation to the goods sustains 1
loss or damage in consequence of a breach of the contract of 2
carriage; and 3
(b) subsection (1) operates to transfer the rights in that contract to 4
another person; 5
the person to whom the rights in the contact are transferred is entitled to 6
exercise those rights for the benefit of the person who sustained the loss or 7
damage to the same extent that they would be able to be exercised if they 8
were vested in that person. 9
(6) In this section-- 10
"contract of carriage", in relation to the transfer of rights under the 11
contract, means the contract as varied by any variation of which the 12
transferee has notice at the time of the transfer. 13
of previous rights 14
Extinguishment
7.(1) If section 6 operates in relation to a bill of lading to transfer rights 15
under the contract of carriage, the transfer extinguishes any entitlement to 16
those rights which derives from-- 17
(a) a person's having been an original party to the contract of 18
carriage; or 19
(b) the previous operation of section 6. 20
(2) If section 6 operates in relation to a sea waybill or ship's delivery 21
order to transfer rights under the relevant contract of carriage-- 22
(a) the transfer extinguishes any entitlement to those rights that 23
derives from the previous operation of section 6; and 24
(b) for a sea waybill--the transfer does not affect any rights that 25
derive from a person's having been an original party to the 26
contract; and 27
(c) for a ship's delivery order--the transfer does not affect any rights 28
under the contract other than rights derived from the previous 29
operation of section 6. 30
s8 9 s9
Sea-Carriage Documents
PART 3--LIABILITIES UNDER CONTRACTS OF 1
CARRIAGE 2
of liabilities 3
Transfer
8.(1) This section applies to a person if rights in the contract of carriage 4
in relation to a sea-carriage document are transferred to the person under 5
section 6 and-- 6
(a) before those rights are transferred, the person demands or takes 7
delivery from the carrier of any of the goods; or 8
(b) after those rights are transferred, the person demands or takes 9
delivery from the carrier of any of the goods; or 10
(c) the person makes a claim under the contract against the carrier in 11
relation to any of the goods. 12
(2) A person to whom this section applies is subject to the liabilities 13
under the contract as if the person had been an original party to the contract. 14
(3) A person to whom subsection (1)(a) applies becomes subject to the 15
liabilities under the contract under subsection (2) at the time the rights in the 16
contract are transferred to the person. 17
(4) In this section-- 18
"contract of carriage", for a person who becomes subject to a liability 19
under the contract because of this section, means the contract of 20
carriage as varied by any variation of which the person has notice at the 21
time of becoming subject to the liability. 22
of original parties 23
Liability
9. Section 8 does not affect the liability under a contract of carriage of any 24
original party to the contract. 25
s 10 10 s 11
Sea-Carriage Documents
ART 4--EVIDENCE 1
P
under bills of lading 2
Shipment
10.(1) This section applies to a bill of lading that-- 3
(a) represents goods to have been shipped, or received for shipment, 4
on board a vessel; and 5
(b) is signed-- 6
(i) by the master of the vessel; or 7
(ii) by another person with the express, implied or apparent 8
authority of the carrier to sign bills of lading. 9
(2) A bill of lading to which this section applies is evidence as against the 10
carrier, in favour of the shipper, of the shipment of the goods or, in the case 11
of a received for shipment bill of lading, of their receipt for shipment. 12
(3) A bill of lading to which this section applies is conclusive evidence as 13
against the carrier, in favour of a lawful holder of the bill, of the shipment of 14
the goods or, in the case of a received for shipment bill of lading, of their 15
receipt for shipment. 16
PART 5--MINOR AMENDMENTS 17
amended 18
Acts
11. The schedule amends the Acts it mentions. 19
20
21
11
Sea-Carriage Documents
CHEDULE 1
¡S
INOR AMENDMENTS 2
M
section 11 3
MERCANTILE ACT 1867 4
´
1. Sections 5 to 7 and heading before section 5-- 5
omit. 6
2. Sections 53 to 68 and heading before section 53-- 7
omit. 8
PARTNERSHIP (LIMITED LIABILITY) ACT 1988 9
´
1. Section 5-- 10
omit. 11
12
© State of Queensland 1996
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