Abstract: This article reviews the relevant issue of civil law regulation in the sphere of freight transportation. China is seeking for new safe routes for freight transportation to the European market, including sea routes, giving preference to the Northern Silk Road. The subject of this research is the comprehension of individual provisions of the Chinese legislation that are specific to both Russian and international law. The object of this research is the determination of peculiarities of the law of the sea, namely the question of limitation of liability for maritime claims in civil law of the People's Republic of China. Special attention is given to the aspect of harmonization of the norms of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China and the Merchant Shipping Code the Russian Federation in this issue. The acquired results demonstrate the shared interest of the two countries lies in the routes of the Northern Sea Road, which actualizes the problem of harmonization of legislation. The government of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China declare the need for harmonization of legal norms that regulate merchant shipping. Leaning on one of the normative fragments related to joint maritime operations along the routes of the Northern Silk Road, the author concludes that further development of cooperation and expansion of the list of bilateral issues of normative legal regulation in this sphere requires a collective plan aimed at harmonization of legislation based on the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation.

Abstract: Green is consistently associated with the political, legal and organizational efforts of various organizations in the area of preservation and sustainable development of the environment. Having analyzes the topic, the author reflects on the legal issues of preventing marine pollution related to the introduction of the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters, the requirements to the “chemistry of pollutants”, technical regulations aimed at the expel of certain ships based on their technical characteristics. The author also attempted to formulate the key statements within the framework of the concept of ecologically sustainable development of the marine transport sector. The subject of this research is the legal relations in the area of regulation of the ecological use of maritime transport. Research methodology employs the analysis of national legal sources; formal-legal, comparative-legal and systemic-logical methods. Law of the Sea has been actively struggling against marine pollution since the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL) of 1954, creating and constantly improving the responsibilities within the framework of International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). The scientific novelty is defined by the absence of analogous works in the Russian literature on the subject. The relevance of this work is substantiated by the need for adoption of legal measures aimed at ensuring efforts on amending the state maritime policy, considering that the implementation of the standards of International Maritime Organization effective since 2020, will result in expel of a considerable number of ships from the maritime sector, as well as and increase the sea freight rates.