This paper aims to compare tax systems related to shipping companies among German, Norway, the Netherlands, UK and Korea and to identify which country has the most competitive edge in terms of tax burdens. The previous studies of international comparison of shipping competitiveness have been simply concerned with the international comparison of nominal tax rates of some foreign countries with Korea. One of their shortcomings have not fully considered tax systems inherent in the shipping industry, which may produce different conclusions. Having home it in mind, this study has tried to calculate effective tax rates among countries concerned, taking fully into account tax systems of the countries.

Since 1979, the People's Republic of China has been opeining their marke tprogressively toward all over the world for developing its own domestic economy and international trade. China also has paid a great attention to the international maritime transport due to the fact that its volume of international trade has increased continuoulsy. Under such circumstance, the Chinese Maritime Code was issued in 1992 in which the regulation with regard to carrier's liability occupied an important position. The author, therefore, selected this issue for demonstration of the legal proinciples about carrier's liability which is provided in the Chinese Maritime Code. The study on the issue is under guidance of related international conventions. On the basis of the above, the differences between the Code and relevant conventions have been pointed out in order to make the people in the field of shipping understood for legal system with regard to carrier's liability in China which is a great potential partner of Korea in shipping and trade.

This paper aims to investigated the origins and characteristics of flags of convenience(FOC) with International Ship Register(ISR), which was recently adopted by a few Western Europe countries(for example, Norway, U.K., France) and to compare FOC with ISR in terms of shipping policy, ship management, and expenses, and tax policy.