International commercial law

International Commercial Law is a body of legal rules, conventions, treaties, domestic legislation and commercial customs or usages, that governs international commercial or business transactionsal sale transactions. A transaction will qualify to be international if elements of more than one country are involved.

Lex mercatoria refers to that part of international commercial law which is unwritten, including customary commercial law; customary rules of evidence and procedure; and general principles of commercial law.

International commercial contracts are sale transaction agreements made between parties from different countries.

The methods of entering the foreign market, with choice made balancing costs, control and risk, include:

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is the main convention for international sale of goods. Established by UNCITRAL, the Convention governs the conclusion of the sale contract; and buyer and seller obligations, including respective remedies. It is not concerned with the validity or provisions of the contract nor its effect on the property sold.

The importance of CISG is its interpretation. International context, uniformity and observance of good faith must be regarded when interpreting the Convention. Matters not expressly settled by CISG are to be determined according to the general principles of CISG; or in such absence, according to rules of private international law. The UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts also provide a ‘gap-filling’ role to supplement CISG, so long as it supports a principle deduced from the Convention.

While Incoterms were first published in 1936, it has been revised every 10 years. Incoterms inform sales contract by defining respective obligations, costs, and risks involved in the delivery of goods from seller to buyer. Incoterms 2010, the 8th revision, refers to the newest collection of essential international commercial and trade terms with 11 rules. Incoterm 2010 was effective on and from January 1, 2011. The terms were devised in recognition of non-uniform standard trade usages between various States. When incorporated into a sale contract, the Incoterm code provides a detailed interpretation of rights and obligations between parties.

Any given Incoterm, in most jurisdictions, will not be incorporated into a contract without express or implied reference to it being an Incoterm. They are standardised and published, available for incorporation into international sale contracts at the parties’ discretion. Parties should specifically refer to the Incoterms in the sale contract to indicate incorporation. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is responsible for revising Incoterms periodically to reflect changing practices in international trade.

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Wikipedia