The third symposium of the Eighth Committee of Maritime Regulations Studies Committee of CIN was held in Shanghai on December 1st, 2017. Focusing on the theme of “The development of China’s shipping industry and the amendment of the Maritime Law”, the symposium was co-organized by the Legal Affairs Division of COSCO Shipping Corporation, the School of Law of Shanghai Maritime University and Shanghai Maritime Regulations Studies Committee of CIN. Gu Weiguo, Deputy Secretary General of CIN, Yu Shicheng, former Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Maritime University, Yang Lei, Deputy General Manager of the Legal Affairs Division of COSCO Shipping Corporation, Liu Yiru, Deputy Director of the Research Office of Shanghai Maritime Court, Wang Guohua, Dean of the School of Law of Shanghai Maritime University, and Li Xiping, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Law of Shanghai Maritime University, attended the symposium.
Yang Lei, Deputy General Manager of the Legal Affairs Division of COSCO Shipping Corporation, said that the amendment of the Maritime Law should consider and follow the “new requirements” brought out bythe “new era” and provide “new patterns” to serve and secure the development of “new shipping”. He believes that the foreign-related legislation of China is undergoing a profound transformation from “domestication of the international law” to “internationalization of the domestic law”. And he hoped that the amendment of Maritime Law could also bring forth change from “bringing in” to “going global”.
Professor Zhu Zuoxian, head of the Department of Maritime Law of the School of Law of Dalian Maritime University, exchanged ideas with other attendees from the perspective of background, goal and content of the amendment of Maritime Law. He thought that currently, some problems of the Maritime Law still existed, such as institutional default, obsolete rules and incongruity between the special law and the general law. Taking the sequence of the chapters of Maritime Law as a clue, he briefed participants on the work of the research group.
Professor Hu Zhengliang, from Shanghai Maritime University, exchanged views with other attendees on “the amendment of Contract of Carriage of Goods by Sea of Maritime Law”. He put forward a series of ideas about the revision and introduced different opinions from the academia on some parts of the views.
Professor Yu Shicheng, former Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Maritime University, introduced the operation of the ports of China over the years, starting from the action of the antitrust inquiry carried out by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) as the point of penetration. He held that there are problems with regard to market competition order in both the port industry and shipping industry. For the future amendment of the Maritime Law, the shipping industry should fully express its own views, but due consideration should also be given to the balance of interests of all parties concerned.
Wang Guohua, Dean of the School of Law of Shanghai Maritime University, delivered a keynote speech on “The development and improvement of the application of laws with reference to foreign-related marine matters”.
During the interaction before the end of the symposium, representatives from the frontline expressed their views actively and had in-depth and heated discussions with experts and scholars on the amendment of the Maritime Law..
At the end of the symposium, Gu Weiguo, full-time Deputy Secretary General of CIN and senior Master, made a summary for the symposium. He said that this high-level symposium attracted many big names in the industry, and many views and contents of the symposium were of great significance to the development of the industry and the strategy of building China into a top maritime and shipping power. He hoped that all the experts and scholars continue the study and work of the subjects of this symposium to achieve more fruitful results.
About 70 experts and representatives from the government, courts, shipping companies, insurance companies, law firms, arbitration institution and scientific research institutes attended this symposium. (from Xu Jing of Department of MET)