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THE RIGHT TO GIVE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE CARRIER

A buyer paying for the goods under a «C»-term should ensure that the seller upon payment is prevented from disposing of the goods by giving new instructions to the carrier. Some transport documents used for particular modes of transport (air, road or rail) offer the contracting parties a possibility to bar the seller from giving such new instructions to the carrier by providing the buyer with a particular original or duplicate of the waybill. However, the documents used instead of bills of lading for maritime carriage do not normally contain such a barring function. The Comite Maritime International has remedied this shortcoming of the above-mentioned documents by introducing the 1990 «Uniform Rules for Sea Waybills» enabling the parties to insert a «no-disposal» clause whereby the seller surrenders the right to dispose of the goods by instructions to the carrier to deliver the goods to somebody else or at another place than stipulated in the waybill.