The “Right of Control” under “Rotterdam Rules”; A Comparative Study with other Conventions on Carriage of Goods and Domestic Laws

Nowadays, the continued control and domination of the seller or other stakeholders over the goods in transit is one of the needs of the International Trade. This control can include a wide range from determining the environmental conditions of the cargo to changing the consignee of the cargo and the place of delivery, or even preventing the delivery and returning the goods. Although the rights and obligations of the seller and the buyer is studied within the framework of the law of International sale of the goods, but since the context of this control coincides with the shipment of cargo through the carrier, the rights and duties of the shipper (seller) and the carrier should also be considered in terms of International Transport Law. In some related conventions on carriage of goods, there are relatively similar contexts as the “Right of disposition of cargo” but a comparative study shows that a full and up-to-date example of it as the "Right of Control" is provided within Rotterdam Rules 2009.