JJUA55245U International Sales Law - NOTE: THE COURSE IS CANCELLED IN THE SPRING SEMESTER 2019

Volume 2018/2019
Content

The course aims at acquainting students with regulatory framework and practice of international transactions of sale of goods, which are the most frequently concluded type of international contracts. Providing legal services for such contracts requires particular attention, as analogies to domestic transactions are useful only to a limited extent.

The course will be conducted in a highly interactive manner (involving a number of individual and team exercises such as drafting, negotiations and strategy building). In order to demonstrate key issues in international transactions of sale and to highlight practical aspects of contractual practice in this field, extensive use of case studies and problem analyses will be applied.

The course will introduce the participants to the complex array of sources of law in this field, including international, transnational and domestic regulations (i.a. CISG and UNIDROIT). Principles of International Commercial Contracts). It will also offer students an opportunity to practice critical use of standard contractual clauses, model contract forms and trade terms,
common in this field.

The module will familiarize participants with the demands of formation, performance and termination of sales agreements in the context of international business relations. It will also cover a range of related issues, such as instruments for international financing and payment, contracts of carriage, affreightment, and insurance, as well as import limitations and rules of origin. This will allow the participants to learn how to efficiently and successfully plan for, negotiate and execute a complete transaction.

Knowledge of contract law and international business law issues, which the students acquire during Bachelor studies, shall serve as a general basis for the discussion of specific aspects of international sale agreements. The course in International Sales Law is complementary to the modules offered in the MA curriculum on International Commercial Contracts and on International Commercial Arbitration – as it offers an in-depth, specialized overview focused on sales transactions (for which the two other courses provide a more general context). These three courses can be thus treated as a coherent educational bloc in international business law at the Master level.

 

Course topics:

  • Sale of goods – definition and role in the international trade
  • Sources of law. Determination of law governing the contract
  • Formation and modification of the contract
  • Obligations of the parties. Performance standards.
  • Liability and remedies
  • Termination of the contract
  • Role of standard trade terms and model contracts
  • Methods of payment
  • Contract of carriage and affreightment. Transport issues and passing of risk. Insurance.
  • Import regulations. Rules of origin.
  • Dispute resolution
Learning Outcome

Upon the completion of the course, the student will be – in terms of:

Knowledge

  • familiar, at the advanced level, with general issues of international sales law, as well as specific contractual solutions used in the international business environment
  • aware of the demands of planning and exercising a complete sales transaction (including, inter alia, payment, transportation, insurance, overall cost asessment considerations)
  • familiar with specific demands for international legal services for business transactions in comparison to domestic practice
  • acquainted with public law dimensions, influencing international sales contracts (Preferential Trade Agreements, customs regulations, product standards, etc.)

 

Skills

trained in:

  • strategy building/planning the transaction
  • negotiating contracts
  • drafting contracts
  • legal research (preparing and formulating legal opinions)
  • presenting arguments in hypo cases and mock proceedings

 

Competences

able to:

  • recognize and resolve issues of law applicable to the contract of sale of goods
  • present relevant sources of law; explain their role and applicability to cross-border transactions
  • select and use standard trade terms befitting purposes of the parties
  • identify and address problems of concluding, modifying and terminating contract of sale,
  • draft contractual provisions,
  • systematize, present and negotiate arguments on proposed contractual provisions in a linguistically and legally correct, precise and professional way,
  • discover and apply relevant standards of performance
  • determine and formulate scope of liability of the parties
  • be aware of and able to advise on different methods of payment
  • be familiar with and select from adequate methods of dispute resolution.

Martin Davies and David V. Snyder: International Transactions in Goods: Global Sales in Comparative Context. Oxford University Press 2014

Joseph Morrissey and Jack M. Graves: International Sales Law and Arbitration. Aspen Publishers 2008.

 

Collection of regulations and cases provided by the instructor.

fluent command of English, analytical skills
- lectures
- seminar discussion
- case study (case law analysis, hypo solving)
- negotiations simulation
- debates
- strategy building (group exercise)
- team assignments (case analysis and presentation)
- drafting exercises
Related subjects (any related courses or related subject areas):
Contract Law, International Commercial Arbitration, International Commercial Contracts
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Preparation
  • 356,5
  • Seminar
  • 56
  • Total
  • 412,5
Written
Oral
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Feedback by final exam (In addition to the grade)
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written examination, 3 days
Assigned individual written assignment, 3 days
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period

THE COURSE IS CANCELLED IN THE SPRING SEMESTER 2019

Re-exam

THE COURSE IS CANCELLED IN THE SPRING SEMESTER 2019