In­ter­na­tion­al Com­mer­cial Law

Course content

Content and structure

This course create value from global connections for local communities, as Nordic businnessses – as other businesses – operate on the global market, including the EU. It is therefore essential for businesses to have a profound knowledge of international businesss law and international law, which sets the legal framework for international contracts and international dispute settlement through arbitration and litigation. Students in this course will learn how to ensure that businesses comply with commercial EU law and international commercial law in order to enter into, perform and, if necessary, enforce international commercial contracts

International Commercial Law is taught in English, and the legal texts and the literature used are in English.

Due to globalisation, it is essential for commercial lawyers and managers to acquire a thorough knowledge of international contract law, international commercial arbitration and litigation. With this knowledge, businesses will be able to put themselves into the best possible strategic position when negotiating, drafting and performing international contracts and when settling disputes arising out of such contracts.

The course objective is to provide students with a detailed knowledge of International Contract Law and International Commercial Arbitration and Litigation in order to enable students to negotiate, draft and perform international contracts on outsourcing and sale of goods and provision of services and to enable students to solve disputes arising out of international commercial contracts through arbitration and litigation.

The course focuses on dispute settlement through international litigation and commercial arbitration. Emphasis is on different forms of arbitration (ad hoc and institutional arbitration), the drafting of arbitration agreements, the lex arbitri, the conduct of arbitration proceedings, choice of law, invalidity of arbitral awards and recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. The legislative basis is UNCITRAL’s Model Law for International Commercial Arbitration, the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, and the New York Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards. For litigation, the legislative basis is the EU legislation on international jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of judgments (the Brussels I Regulation), and the Hague Judgments Conventions from 2005 and 2019. Finally, the course also covers Choice of Law for international contracts. The legislative basis is the EU legislation on choice of law for international contracts (the Rome Convention and the Rome I Regulation) and the UNCITRAL Convention for the International Sales of Goods.

Teaching

Lectures, including exercises and cases. During lectures, the general rules and principles will be explained. The purpose of the exercises and cases, which are integrated into all lectures, is to discuss and apply the general rules and principles to real situations. Students are expected to be well-prepared and participate actively in class.