ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book aims to foreshadow and assess the impact of the Rotterdam Rules on international trade law. It discerns the different principles and sources of the law of carriage and international trade law. The book investigates the Article 47(2) of the Rotterdam Rules (RR) which reveals that, if negotiable documents not requiring surrender make their appearance, the security of negotiable documents as documents of title will be substantially altered. The RR are flexible in not requiring issuance of transport documents to provide for different trade customs. This flexibility, and at the same time the ambiguity of Article 35, may affect traditional principles of trade, such as the importance of documents. The book discusses the ways in which an agreement has to be drafted to address this uncertainty. It reveals the legal-teleological thread of the implications that the RR produce for trade.
