This article analyzes different rules provided in the Rotterdam Rules and the ROC Maritime Law, respectively, including the carrier’s period of responsibility, statutory obligations, exemptions, burden of proof, limitation of liability, notice of damage or loss, limitation of action and other related rules, and further explores the overall impacts on maritime and multimodal transport. The Rotterdam Rules as a whole have extended their scope of application to “maritime plus.” They have also revised the carriers’ fundamental obligations (e.g. provision of seaworthy ships, and duty of care), modified the statutory exemptions according to a full fault-based liability system, specified the contents of burden-of-proof, revised the contents of carriers’ liabilities, increased the duty of shippers, expanded the regulations of transport documents (e.g. electronic transport records), enumerated the rights of control of goods, as well as rules on cargo delivery, amended the special requirements on releasing goods without the production of a bill of landing, added in new rules on volume contract, and rectified the time for both the notice of cargo damage and limitation of action. The above mentioned modifications aim to resolve problems arising from the discrepancy of various international conventions on maritime and multimodal transport; however, it is also needed to take into account that such wide range of revision may well have great impact on both carriers and cargo owners in practice. To this end, this article continues to discuss potential problems on the application of the Rotterdam Rules, and further proposes suggestions for the authorities’ reference in future domestic laws revision tasks.