The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partially by the Sea (the Rotterdam Rules, signed on 23 September 2009) is intended to make exclusive use of electronic transport documents. Transport documents, as the Author points out, are negotiable.

Drafting of the Convention was set in motion 1996 in the Comite Maritime International (CMI), and from 2002 its development continued under the auspices of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The Author opines that the Rules may advance application of electronic negotia-ble instruments in present day trade.