International Commercial Agreements

Precise planning, drafting and vigorous negotiation lie at the heart of every international commercial agreement. But as the international business community moves toward the third decade of the twenty-first century, a large amount of the detail of these agreements has migrated to the Internet and has become part of electronic commerce.

This incomparable one-volume work, now in its seventh edition, begins by discussing and analyzing all the basic components of international contracts regardless of whether the contracting parties are interacting face-to-face or dealing electronically at some distance from each other. The work stands alone among contract drafting guides and has proven its enduring worth.

Using an established and highly practical format, the book offers precise information and analysis of a wide variety of issues and forms of agreement, as well as the various forms of international commercial dispute resolution. The seventh edition includes new and updated material on a large number of issues and concepts, such as:

new developments and technical progress in electronic commerce;

the use of concepts of standardization, i.e., the work of the International Organization for Standardization as a contract drafting tool;

new developments in artificial intelligence in contract drafting;

the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment device;

expedited arbitration, early neutral evaluation and digital procedures for dispute resolution;

online dispute resolution, including the phenomenon of the "robot arbitrator"; and

foreign direct investment, investment law and investor-state dispute resolution.

Each chapter provides numerous references to additional sources, including websites, journal articles, and texts. Materials from and citations to appropriate literature and languages other than English are included.

Recognizing that business executives entering into an international commercial transaction are mainly interested in drafting and negotiating an agreement that satisfies all of the parties and that will be performed as promised, this superb guide will measurably assist any lawyer or business executive in planning and implementing contracts and resolving disputes even when that person is not interested in a full-blown understanding of the entire landscape of international contracts. Business executives who are not lawyers will find that this book gives them the understanding and perspective necessary to work effectively with legal experts.