2010년 법무부 복합운송법 제정안의 성립 경위와 중요 내용

Korean Ministry of Justice launched a program to make a proposal on the law governing combined transportation in the Korean Commercial Code (KCC) during the year of 2010. The author who actively participated in the procedure explains the main contents of the newly proposed articles and how they will be applied to the actual cases. The law adopts network liability system in case that the place where the accident occurred is ascertained. If the accident is ascertained that it occurred during the transportation at the sea leg, the maritime law section of the KCC will be applied to the case. However, in case that the place where the accident occurred is not ascertained, the law applicable for the place where the length of the transportation is the longest among different legs of modes will be applied to the case. The proposal try to mitigate the legal vacuum in the case of land transportation. Law for land transportation does not provide any legal regime of the limitation of liability for the carrier. Furthermore, it does not have any compulsory provision for protecting the consignor unlike that in the maritime law section. The carrier is allowed to limit its liability in an amount of 666.67SDR per package or 2SDR per kilo gram weight of goods lost or damaged, whichever is the higher. Where the length of leg of air transportation is the longest, the limitation amount is 8.33SDR per kilo gram. Whenever the carrier tries to lower the limitation amount in the contract, it is null and void under the new proposal. The new proposal for law governing combined transportation can be appraised to be beneficial for the carrier and the consignor as well because it provides predictability for them. However, the law governing combined transportation may be revised again soon after the law governing land transportation is revised.