Jurisdiction agreements in contracts for the carriage of goods by sea under bill of lading. Arts. 251 and 468 of Spanish Maritime Navigation Act

Abstract

Jurisdiction clauses play a particularly important role in the field of contracts for the carriage of goods by sea, which are essentially international in nature, providing legal certainty and at the same time promoting commercial traffic. The forum selection clauses inserted in bills of lading, however, raise certain problems of formal validity of the consent and opposability against third parties. Article 25 RBI-bis is silent on the translational effectiveness of jurisdiction agreements, this gap being filled by the jurisprudence of the TJUE. The application and interpretation of this jurisprudence in relation to arts. 251 and 468 LNM has given rise to conflicting positions both in the doctrine and in the Spanish courts, and has finally led to the presentation of a preliminary ruling before the CJUE.