Issuance of document

27 . The Convention in principle leaves it up to the operator whether to issue a document acknowledging receipt of goods (article 4). However, if the customer requests such a document, the operator must issue it. Such a solution is necessary in order to take into account practices in various types of terminal operations. For example, when the operations are limited to lashing containers, stowing or trimming cargo, or dunnaging, it may be customary not to issue a document. When the operations include warehousing, operators usually issue a document acknowledging receipt of the goods.

28 . The Convention provides that a document may be issued "in any form which preserves a record of the information contained therein". It is further provided that a signature can be a "handwritten signature, its facsimile or an equivalent authentication effected by any other means". This provision is not qualified by a requirement that a particular means of authentication must be permitted by the applicable law. The expression "equivalent authentication" should be understood as a requirement that the method used must be sufficiently reliable in the light of the usages relevant to the situation.

29 . The Convention refers in several places to notices and requests (articles 4(1); 5(3)(4); 10(4); 11(1),(2),(5); 12(2),(4),(5)). Article 1(e) and (f) specifies that a notice or a request may be given "in a form which preserves a record of the information contained therein". The purpose of the provision, which parallels the provision on the form of a document issued by the operator and is modelled on equivalent formulations in several international legal texts, is to make it clear, on the one hand, that a notice or request under the Convention cannot validly be made orally, and, on the other hand, that a notice or request may be given in the form of a written paper or may be transmitted by the use of electronic data interchange (EDI). Since the use of EDI requires that both parties use suitable and compatible equipment, the use of electronic transmission techniques presupposes previous agreement by the parties.