La riforma del Seehandelsrecht: verso nuove sponde del diritto privato marittimo tedesco

After a century of rare and only partial amendments German legislator is now heading for a comprehensive reform of maritime law which is expected to be approved by the end of this year. The draft of the reform allows a first synopsis and evaluation of the upcoming rules. Various changes can be perceived in the field of contractual and tortious liability. As an example according to the reform nautical error will not be a ground for exemption anymore. Furthermore the protection of passengers is reinforced by enlarging the field of application of compensation and increasing the maximal liability sums in case of damages or death. Old institutes of German maritime law coming from medieval times, such as special forms of corporations or methods of investigations on naval incidents are abrogated. At the same time new technological standards, e.g. electronic bill of ladings, will be introduced and the variety of upcoming challenges in a globalized commercial world is faced by offering parties a broad contractual freedom. Adapting to international standards and especially the national harmonization of transportation law are the goals aimed by the German reform which all by all can be considered as a successful proactive approach to European and international naval transportation standards