人壽保險業為特許行業，各國基於不同監理目的而有不同會計處理規定，導致各國會計差異問題的浮現。台灣自 2011 年 1 月 1 日起正式 適用國際財務報導準則保險合約第一階段規範與國際接軌，其為過渡性準則，乃說明保險合約之定義、合約之認列與衡量及其揭露等，實施後影響不大。但實施後保險業仍存在對資產採公平價值評價，而對負債 (責任準備金) 採成本法評價之不一致現象。因此，為達資產負債 管理的一致性，將實施 IFRS 4 Phase II，對保險負債採公平價值評價並 規定保險負債須以無風險利率評價。本研究將在 IFRS 4 Phase II 對負債公平價值的規範架構下，以壽險 業商品的準備金為例，評估 IFRS 4 Phase II 實施後其準備金價值及公 司財報損益所會產生的差異。此外，探討 IFRS 4 Phase II 實施後對壽 險業的評價影響，諸如服務邊際、現金價值與風險調整，包含此財務揭露改變是否將對壽險業之商品類型造成影響。 / Life insurance corporation should be granted a franchise by the government in every countries. The purpose of supervision based on different countries have different accounting rules, leading to differences in national accounting problems. Taiwan has officially adopted the framework of International Financial Reporting Standards 4 Phase I since January 1, 2011. IFRS 4 Phase I is a transitional guidelines, which includes some definitions of insurance contracts. The principles of IFRS Phase I doesn’t cause serious effects for life insurance corporations. However, the problem of mismatching between the fair value of assets and the book value of liabilities still exists. Therefore, in order to achieve consistency management in asset and liability, the fair value valuation for liabilities is required under the frame work of IFRS 4 Phase II In our research, we would take a policy for example to evaluate the fair value of liabilities under the framework of IFRS 4 Phase II. Besides, we also analyze the the influences for life insurance companies after applying the IFRS 4 Phase II.

A comparison of the property regimes of spouses in Czech and French law The aim of this masters thesis was to compare property regimes of spouses in Czech and French legal systems. The thesis is dealing with different aspects of "marital estate regime" under the Czech Civil Code, "legal regime" under the French Civil Code and the "legal regime" under the new Czech Civil Code effective from 2014 In addition, the aim was also to examine whether the legislators of both countries based the legal texts on similar premises. In cases of missing positive legal norms, the thesis examined whether practice or case law leads the legislators to conclusions similar or completely different in the respective legal systems. The secondary objective was to compare existing and new Czech Civil Code and evaluate the progress in the approach to the institute of marital estate. The marital property law has to face traditionally two interests, namely individual interest of each spouse and the common interest of the conjugal union. It is important to reconcile these two interests to such extent that common interests will be given sufficient protection, but on the other hand, to extent not as restrictive as to cause aversion to the institution of marriage itself. The thesis is composed of four chapters, each of them dealing...

Le monde équin offre une palette de situations variées mettant en scène aussi bien un profane, ignorant tout du cheval lors d'une promenade à l'extérieur, qu'un driver durant une séance d'entraînement ou un enfant mordu par le poney d'un voisin. Le cheval est réutilisé au travail, comme le transport de personnes, mais aussi pour la réinsertion sociale ou en thérapie pour les personnes handicapées. Les réactions imprévisibles des équidés font que ces activités sont qualifiées d'accidentogènes. Le contact avec des équidés comporte des risques élevés de chutes, inhérents à ces pratiques. Un constat s'impose: l'indemnisation des victimes est au coeur des préoccupations de notre société. La victime touchée dans sa chair ne peut choisir librement le fondement de son action; le principe du non-cumul exige l'application des règles de la responsabilité contractuelle lorsqu'il existe un contrat. La frontière entre ces deux branches constitue parfois un frein à une meilleure indemnisation pour les victimes. Au vu de la judiciarisation constante, il est souhaitable de proposer certaines solutions pour améliorer les conditions et les effets respectifs de chacune des deux branches de la responsabilité civile; on peut renforcer l'intensité de l'obligation de sécurité, le respect de la volonté contractuelle des parties dans un contrat équin tout en cherchant à responsabiliser les acteurs du monde du cheval afin de mettre en valeur leur fonction préventive, sans exclure la théorie de l'acceptation des risques afin que la liberté de « jouer » survive en droit du sport! / The equestrian world offers a large range of activities which may sees the involvement of different persons: a profane ignoring the intrinsic nature of the animal during an outside ride from the equestrian centre under instructor control, a driver during training or a kid bitten by neighbor's pony. Horses are used for work not only for community tasks such as transportation but also for social reinsertion to help people in need or also as a therapy for persons with motor disabilities. Having contact with horses involves a high degree of risk due to the possibility of failing. Therefore, litigation in field of civil liability is constantly growing. Compensation is in the heart of society's concerns. The optimization of the compensation incurred during the sports or leisure's activities must be underlined. Victims cannot freely choose their legal recourse. Indeed, the "none option principal" implies the application of the liability rules when a contract is existing and the application of the tortious liability when no contract is existing. The separation between both liabilities is often an obstacle for improved compensation for victims. Regarding the constant increase of litigation in this field, solutions should be offered to improve the conditions and the effects of the two branches of civil liability mainly by reinforcing the security obligations in several activities and the considerations of the parties intentions involved in an equestrian agreement while searching the liabilities of the parties in order to highlight preventative measures and not to exclude the risk theory to keep the freedom of play in sports regulations area.

The dissertation thesis deals with valuation of individual items in the economic balance sheet of a stand-alone company and subsequently as a part of acquisition. We define the economic balance sheet as a full set of assets, liabilities as well as synergies amongst the assets (stand-alone company view) and companies (transaction view), where the sum of their individual valuations has to equal to the overall value of the company. Hence we suggest that the management (and a valuer) should be able to decompose the company value into defined and controllable value components. Apart from identifying optimal methods for the individual valuation, the key for achieving this task is the internal (amongst the assets) as well as the overall consistency (vis-a-vis the overall company value). Compared to the overall-valuation approach, we demonstrate how the component approach can lead to more precise results, higher management discipline and accountability, and can serve as a tool for an a priori identification of overpayment as well as an instrument for controlling the value post transaction. We defined two primary types of synergies in terms of valuation approach - Enhancement, improving current income potential and Future opportunities, mainly focusing on new projects - and proposed appropriate valuation approaches given their specifics. Since a large proportion of valuations on individual level is based on the income approach, setting a clear and consistent approach to discount rates was a vital part of the work. We propose a primary and, if not available, second-best rate for each component of the economic balance sheet. Although the synergies are probably of the highest commercial interest, the liabilities with external source of risk and deferred taxes on the individual level are areas generally neglected both by academics and practitioners. While the first one will have only but crucial impact on companies with decommissioning and similar liabilities, the latter is present almost in any itemized valuation, and its incorrect or purely isolated application affects the overall result and breaks the link to the overall company value. We analyze both topics and offer consistent valuation methods, although further research is required to refine them. We discuss WARA as one of the key tools for ensuring consistency of itemized valuation of the economic balance sheet. Lacking any theoretical background and interest from academic researchers, we first analyze simple concepts of the tool as they are used in practice and point out observed conceptual errors, oversimplifications and accounting-only approach. Not only that we propose complex consistent rules for WARA construction but we extend the concept from the focus on conventionally defined net assets to the full economic balance sheet, which is the only way how to relate the itemized valuation to the overall company valuation. Finally, we presented a case study based on real-life example which demonstrated practical applicability of proposed partial solutions as well as the overall approach to achieving consistency with the total company or transaction valuation. Although the analysis of individual items of the economic balance will be inevitably based on subjective assumptions to an extent, we have shown that proposed complex and consistent approach adds value to the strategic and transaction considerations. Also the preciseness of the tools will increase with the number of transactions performed as the parameters get calibrated.

Topic of the master thesis is the Financial Instruments in Bank Accounting. The master thesis looks at bookkeeping and accounting of financial instruments in international financial reporting standards context. The main reporting standards which are discussed in the paper are: IAS 32, IAS 39, IFRS 7 and IFRS 9. In the first part, the reporting standards impact on banks as commercial subjects, legislation of bank operations, financial instruments and accounting in both a national and international context are presented. The focus of master thesis is examined in the second and third sections where financial instruments are discussed in detail and their characteristics, initial recognition, subsequent measurement and accounting are also examined. The next topic is the issue of the reclassification of financial instruments and their impairment is discussed. The forth part of the thesis examines IFRS 7. The standard has claims on the disclosure of financial instruments in both the statement of financial position and statement of comprehensive income. IFRS 7 also has claims on related areas including disclosure of credit, liquidity and market risk. The last part deals with news in the examined area where the main focus is IFRS 9.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:25:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Erika Camozzi.pdf: 1181517 bytes, checksum: 129f42316c7ee484cb8e4c3d95114204 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-06-06 / The present study has as its objective to analyze the responsibility limitation of the partners, the managers and the administrators for the company liabilities of the private limited companies regarding the Social Security. It will be analyzed the debtor of the tax liability, its concept and choosing way, differentiating taxpayers and responsible persons for the Social Security credit, against the company, within the aspects as outlined by the National Tax Code. The personality of the corporate body will be analyzed in order to point out its main attribution: the patrimonial autonomy, an attribution that is of the essence for the correct ascribing of responsibility to the individuals regarding the fiscal debts as assumed. The autonomy of the corporate body is of utmost importance for the economic development as it limits the investor s responsibility. Consequently, the theme of the partners responsibility will also be approached, under an economic prism, through the analysis of the relationship between the limitation of the partners responsibility and the economic efficiency, taking into account the fact that the rule, that establishes the partners limited responsibility for the company liabilities, is focused on enhancing and fomenting the economic activities, becoming an instrument that results from the capitalist structure. The controversy of the subject matter is shown very clearly when we take a quick look at the scenery of the status of companies in the country, being pressed by a growing increase in the taxation burden and by the successive economic plans that do not promote, be directly or indirectly, the development of the economy. It is not without a reason that there is tax default, being presently shown, in the massive majority of cases, the impossibility by the corporate bodies to cover the existing debts with their assets, giving an opportunity to the Tax Bureau to involve the partners and other individuals in the tax foreclosures, having a purpose more intimidating than efficacious. The theory of the corporate entity disregard will be approached with the objective of outlining criteria for its correct application, considering that the Article 50 of the 2002 Civil Code was an advance in order to guide the correct application of the theory as it brought the necessary effectiveness to the Law professionals. The concern, that was pointed out by the doctrine on an on-going basis, was how the theory of the corporate entity disregard has been utilized by our Courts, in order that it is not indiscriminately applied, being kept the principle of the corporate body autonomy, to be disregarded only in exceptional cases. The issue of the responsibility of the partners and other individuals rotates around the Article 135, item III of the National Tax Code. In accordance with such provision, the administrators of limited companies become personally liable for the fiscal debts of the company as from the time they start taking action with excessive powers or with violation to the law. It will be analyzed the hypothesis in which the partner is liable for obligations that, in theory, should belong to the company, that is, 10 the hypothesis as established on the Article 13 of the Law 8,212/93. Therefore, it is necessary the joint analysis of the Articles 124, 128 and 135 of the National Tax Code with the Article 13 of the Law 8,212/91. It will still be approached the question of the unconstitutionality of this specific Article 13 which, due to the fact of legislating as regards to general rules of Tax Law, violates what is established by our Constitution, on Article 146, item III, subitem b , requiring a complementary law to the Constitution in order to legislate about the matter. And, finally, at a practical level, it will be analyzed the question related to the necessary inclusion of the name of partners, managers and administrators on the executive document of the Tax Bureau, under penalty of nullity of the registration and consequent collection action / O presente trabalho tem por objetivo examinar a limitação da responsabilidade dos sócios, gerentes e administradores pelas obrigações sociais das sociedades limitadas perante a Previdência Social. Será analisado o sujeito passivo da obrigação tributária, seu conceito e forma de eleição, diferenciando-se contribuintes e responsáveis pelo crédito previdenciário, dentro dos aspectos delineados pelo Código Tributário Nacional. Será analisada a personalidade da pessoa jurídica a fim de se destacar sua principal atribuição: a autonomia patrimonial, atribuição fundamental para a correta responsabilização das pessoas físicas pelas dívidas fiscais contraídas. A autonomia da pessoa jurídica é de suma importância para o desenvolvimento econômico, uma vez que limita a responsabilidade do investidor. Assim, o tema da responsabilidade dos sócios também é analisado sob um prisma econômico, através da análise da relação da limitação da responsabilidade dos sócios e da eficiência econômica, considerando-se o fato de que a norma que prescreve a responsabilidade limitada dos sócios pelas obrigações sociais destina-se a acentuar e fomentar as atividades econômicas, constituindo instrumento resultante da estrutura capitalista. A controvérsia do tema mostra-se evidente quando vislumbramos o panorama em que se encontram as empresas no país, pressionadas por um crescente aumento da carga tributária e pelos sucessivos planos econômicos que não favorecem, seja direta ou indiretamente, o desenvolvimento da economia. 7 Não é sem razão que há inadimplência de tributos, mostrando-se presente na maciça maioria dos casos a impossibilidade das pessoas jurídicas arcarem com seus bens os débitos existentes, ensejando a provocação pela Fazenda Pública dos sócios e demais pessoas físicas nas execuções fiscais, com intuito muitas vezes mais intimidador do que eficaz. Será abordada a teoria da desconsideração da personalidade jurídica, com o objetivo de traçar critérios para a sua correta aplicação, considerando-se que o artigo 50 do Código Civil de 2002 representou um avanço para nortear a correta aplicação da teoria, pois trouxe aos operadores do Direito a efetividade necessária. A preocupação constantemente destacada pela doutrina é como a teoria da desconsideração da personalidade jurídica tem sido utilizada pelos nossosossos Tribunais, a fim de que não seja aplicada indiscriminadamente, mantendo-se o princípio da autonomia da pessoa jurídica para, somente em casos excepcionais, desconsiderá-la. A questão da responsabilidade dos sócios e demais pessoas físicas gira em torno do artigo 135, III do CTN. De acordo com tal dispositivo, os administradores de sociedades por quotas passam a ser pessoalmente responsáveis pelos débitos fiscais da empresa, a partir do momento em que agem com excesso de poderes ou com infração à lei. Será examinada a hipótese em que o sócio responde por obrigações que, em tese, deveriam caber à sociedade, qual seja, a hipótese prevista no artigo 13 da Lei 8.212/93. Assim, necessária a análise conjunta dos artigos 124, 128 e 135, do CTN, com o artigo 13 da Lei 8.212/91. Será abordada, ainda, a questão da inconstitucionalidade deste mesmo artigo 13, que, pelo fato de dispor a respeito de normas gerais sobre Direito Tributário, 8 viola o quanto determinado pela nossa Carga Magna, no artigo 146, III, b , exigindo lei complementar para o trato da matéria. E, por fim, numa esfera prática, será tratada a questão da necessária inclusão do nome dos sócios, gerentes e administradores no título executivo da Fazenda Pública, sob pena de nulidade da inscrição e conseqüente ação de cobrança

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:39:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Aderbal Alfonso Hoppe.pdf: 533134 bytes, checksum: 9f8b83dfeea68bfdd9549643a8c701d8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-11-14 / At the close of the financial statements at December 31, 2010, corporate accounting practices in Brazil underwent the largest transformation in their history, in aligning with international accounting standards. This process generated differences in accounting practices between those accepted under tax legislation and those accepted under economic sector regulatory environments. The electric power distribution sector, in providing a public service, is regulated by a Granting Authority. The two main methods of regulation and inspection used by the Granting Authority are: i) to establish tariff practices so that through this mechanism there is control over levels of revenue and costs; and ii) to establish accounting practices through the Electrical Sector Accounting Manual. Concession agreements are standardized with similar economic and financial characteristics, which in turn, generate similar accounting events. This work is intended to analyze the differences in accounting practices between corporate financial statements and regulatory financial statements. To achieve this objective a conceptual review of the corporate and regulatory accounting practices was performed, including the economic and financial characteristics of the main examples of these differences in accounting practices. It was concluded through analysis of corporate and regulatory balance sheets at December 31, 2011, that despite the fact that corporate and regulatory accounting practices are formalized and mandatory for the balance sheet at that base date, there were inconsistencies, or a lack of application, of the accounting practices required under regulatory accounting. Accordingly, while it is evidently a positive notion to prepare and disclose regulatory financial statements that reconcile with accounting practices, at this stage this requires more detail and supplementary information in regulatory financial statements, as well as the complete adoption of regulatory accounting practices by all electric power distributors / No encerramento das demonstrações contábeis societárias de 31 de dezembro de 2010, a contabilidade societária no Brasil completou a maior transformação de sua história pelo processo de harmonização para as normas internacionais de contabilidade. Esse processo gerou diferenças de práticas em relação às aceitas pela legislação tributária e pelo ambiente de regulação de setores econômicos. O setor de distribuição de energia elétrica, por ser de prestação de serviço público, é regulado pelo Poder Concedente. Dois dos principais meios de regulação e fiscalização usados pelo do Poder Concedente são: i) determinar a tarifa prática e que por meio deste mecanismo há o controle de níveis de receita e custos; e ii) determinar práticas contábeis por meio do Manual de Contabilidade do Setor Elétrico. Os contratos de concessão são padronizados, com características econômicas e financeiras semelhantes e que, por consequência, gerando eventos contábeis semelhantes. Esse trabalho tem como objetivo analisar as diferenças de práticas contábeis entre as demonstrações contábeis societárias e regulatórias. Para o alcance deste objetivo foi feita uma revisão conceitual sobre as práticas contábeis societárias e regulatórias, incluindo as características econômicas e financeiras dos principais eventos de diferenças de práticas contábeis. Conclui-se por das análises dos balanços societários e regulatórios de 31 de dezembro de 2011, que apesar das práticas contábeis societárias e regulatórias estarem formalizadas e com aplicação obrigatória nos balanços da referida data-base, observou-se que há divergências de aplicação ou falta de aplicação de práticas contábeis requeridas na contabilidade regulatória. Com isso, observa-se que se montra positiva a intenção de preparar e divulgar as demonstrações contábeis regulatórias que conciliem com as práticas contábeis. Entretanto, mas que ainda está em estágio que requer um detalhamento e complemento das informações nas demonstrações contábeis regulatórias, bem como, que ocorra a completa adoção das práticas contábeis regulatórias por todas as distribuidoras de energia elétrica

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:23:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paula Eschholz Ribeiro Brofman.pdf: 1151614 bytes, checksum: a186fd296cea5e452de8a361dae95cb5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-16 / Constitutional Amendment No. 33, dated December 12, 2001 changed the wording of art. 155, § 2, section IX, paragraph a, of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988. Unsurprisingly the commitment of the states and the Federal District for all tax and any entry of goods and commodities in the country. They lacked, however, a constitutional approval for this. It was then that the Constitutional Amendment 33 modified the constitutional archetype of ICMS in order to make it focus on any entry of goods or merchandise in the country. These changes resulted in heated debates on the doctrine of the Tax Law, which saw the creation of a new tax, in the guise of ICMS, enter the legal world through an Amendment to the Constitution. Is that musty derived constituent power is not fully free to modify the constitution to their own pleasure, there are parameters set by the original power that must be respected, otherwise it would incur unconstitutional. Thus, this paper intends to perform a syntactic, semantic and pragmatic analysis of the exaction in order to demonstrate the main changes brought about by Constitutional Amendment No. 33, 2001, marginalized original guidelines and the consequent alterations to the unconstitutionality of the import-ICMS / A Emenda Constitucional nº 33, de 12 de dezembro de 2001 alterou a redação do art. 155, § 2º, inciso IX, alínea a, da Constituição Federal de 1988. Não é novidade o empenho dos Estados e Distrito Federal em tributar toda e qualquer entrada de bens e mercadorias no país. Faltava-lhes, no entanto, uma aprovação constitucional para isso. Foi então, que a Emenda Constitucional nº 33 modificou o arquétipo constitucional do ICMS, a fim de fazê-lo incidir sobre toda e qualquer entrada de bens ou mercadorias em território nacional. Tais mudanças trouxeram calorosos debates na doutrina do Direito Tributário, que viu a criação de um novo imposto, sob as vestes do ICMS, ingressar no universo jurídico por meio de Emenda à Constituição. É cediço que o poder constituinte derivado não é totalmente livre para modificar o texto constitucional ao seu bel-prazer, há parâmetros estabelecidos pelo poder originário que devem ser respeitados, sob pena de se incorrer em inconstitucionalidade. Diante disto, este trabalho pretende realizar uma análise sintática, semântica e pragmática da exação, a fim de demonstrar as principais mudanças trazidas pela Emenda Constitucional nº 33, de 2001, as diretrizes originais marginalizadas e a consequência dessas alterações no ICMS-Importação

O presente trabalho aborda uma questão ainda relativamente nova, mas de urgente reflexão: a reutilização de imóveis industriais, considerados hoje, áreas potencialmente contaminadas (AP) por atividades não industriais. Objetiva documentar a postura mais freqüentemente utilizada no Brasil quando da reocupação da implantação de novos usos em imóveis industriais desativados, adotando-se como parâmetro o município de São Paulo. Busca averiguar se, em algum momento deste processo, há qualquer consideração sobre a possibilidade da existência de passivo ambiental, dada a natureza industrial da atividade anteriormente desenvolvida no imóvel. Parte da hipótese que os agentes envolvidos nesse processo de mudança de uso (incorporadoras, construtoras, etc) ignoram ou desconsideram a possível existência de contaminação no imóvel. A metodologia consistiu na seleção dos imóveis, a partir de uma base cartográfica (4 cartas – escala 1: 25.000 da EMPLASA) que registrava o uso do solo em 1980. Posterior visita ao campo e registro do uso atual destes imóveis. Os que apresentaram um novo uso não industrial foram analisados e se dentro dos parâmetros desejados, sujeitos a uma entrevista. O resultado das entrevistas comprovou a hipótese inicial. Conclui-se que, a reincorporação destes imóveis ao tecido urbano dá-se sem qualquer preocupação quanto à existência de uma possível contaminação do solo, dos aqüíferos ou das instalações se reaproveitadas. Mesmo se, durante a construção do novo empreendimento, tenham sido observados indícios de uma provável contaminação. Não há qualquer interesse na investigação da qualidade do solo e água, além do usual, para execução das fundações. Do ponto de vista dos agentes envolvidos, somente a exigência de um órgão público justificaria tal atitude. / This research refers to a very new problem, which needs urgent reflection and response: the new land uses in industrial areas, considered potentially contaminated. The research intends to define which is the more common attitude in Brazil for redevelopment of decommissioning industrial plants areas, focused on São Paulo city. It aims to examine the process of redevelopment projects, in order to discover if there is any consideration about the environment quality during the land uses changes. It takes as hypothesis that the agent involved in land uses changes process ignore completely the existence of contaminated sites. The methodology was grounded and developed by using charts (4 charts- scale 1:25.000 –.EMPLASA), which indicated the industrial plants in 1980. Later visit on land to verify their current uses. The agents involved in the installation of new non-industrial establishments were interviewed about the process. In summary, one can say that the reintegration of these decommissioning industrial areas is done without any kind of deeply concerns about the contaminated sites, or the impact of the past industrial activities on the groundwater quality, or in the abandoned installations. There isn’t any further interest in order to investigate the possibility of environmental liabilities and consequent risks and hazards.

In the context of an international carriage of goods by sea contract, the consignees and endorsees are the two important categories of the parties whom their rights and liabilities have not been legislated for in any international carriage of goods by sea convention until the adoption of the Rotterdam Rules. The truth is that, in contrast to the rights and the correlative liabilities and obligations of the shippers and carriers, the rights and liabilities of the consignees and endorsees have always been dealt with by the domestic and national laws. However, the Rotterdam Rules, with the goals of promoting legal certainty, improving the efficiency of international carriage of goods and harmonization and modernization of the carriage rules, for the first time at an international level, have attempted to regulate the provisions governing the rights and liabilities of the latter parties. Thus, the application of the Rotterdam Rules, in case they gain the force of law, will be broader than any other international maritime convention. Therefore, this has compelled the necessity of carrying out a profound and detailed critical analysis of the new, and somewhat innovative, regulations, since the impact of the application of the Convention on the existing carriage of goods by sea rules, both nationally and internationally will be crucially significant. The UK as one of the major actors of the maritime industry has a long-established set of rules particularly in the field of rights and liabilities of the parties, both in the common law and statutory senses, governing the carriage of goods by sea affairs for centuries. This thesis aims to evaluate the relevant provisions of the Rotterdam Rules by way of comparison with their corresponding rules of the English law in order to find out whether these new sets of regulations can establish a reliable source of reference for the consignees and endorsees who wish to ascertain their rights and become aware of their obligations and liabilities. In other words, the main objective of this study is to examine whether the Rotterdam Rules clearly define and specify the rights and liabilities of the consignees and endorsees to a contract of carriage of goods by sea. Further, it is going to investigate whether the Convention succeed in achieving its goals with respect to the rights and liabilities of these parties. Also, ratification of the Rotterdam Rules is believed to have a significant impact on the English maritime law and therefore, the question whether it is reasonable for the UK to ratify the Convention will be answered in this research. It is suggested that the findings of this thesis in addition to the solutions proposed to solve the difficulties, ambiguity and complexity of the existing rules, will be of assist to the UK authorities as well as the legislative bodies in other jurisdictions in order to obtain a more effective decision on the adoption of the Rotterdam Rules. This study ends with illustrating an alarming vision of the future of maritime law which will be largely affected by the evolution of smart technologies in the shipping industry.