What Are the Different Reasons for International Trade?

International Trade Dispute refers to disputes arising from various international trade exchanges or various international trade activities. Is an academic term in the field of economics and trade.

International trade dispute

International trade disputes refer to disputes arising from trade activities between international trade subjects. Is an academic vocabulary.

The scope of international trade subjects is wide, including private, national (regional) and international economic organizations.

Generally speaking, international trade disputes are more commonly used in business disputes between private and legal persons, and the scale or volume of economic trade is not large; international trade disputes are more often used between large international economic organizations, countries The trade disputes between them involve a wide range of industries and industries, large economic scale and large trade volume, and international trade disputes often contain factors such as political interference and trade protection. The international trade war is the escalation of international trade disputes.

International trade disputes have different characteristics due to the different participants and the rights and obligations between the parties. Based on the participants in international trade relations, disputes in the field of international trade can be divided into the following types:

International trade disputes between nationals of different countries

Such disputes generally arise in the course of cross-border economic and trade activities between nationals (including natural and legal persons) of different countries due to the sale of goods, technology transfer, investment, and engineering contracts. Nationals of different countries are direct participants in international economic and trade activities, and international trade disputes often occur between such parties.

This type of dispute generally occurs between the parties in the interpretation or performance of an international economic and trade contract, but in some cases, it may also be a non-contractual dispute, such as a dispute arising from a tort. But whether it is a contractual dispute or a non-contractual dispute, the common characteristics are: the legal status of the parties to the dispute is equal, and their rights and obligations are equal.

International trade disputes between a country (region) and a national or foreign national

The main characteristic of this type of dispute is that the two parties to the dispute have different legal status: one party is a sovereign state (or an area enjoying independent legislative or judicial power), and the other party is a national or foreign national. In accordance with the general principles of international law, states enjoy sovereignty, can formulate and amend laws, and enjoy judicial immunity. The average citizen does not have this power, and must abide by the laws formulated by the state. Such disputes mainly occur during the state's exercise of management or supervision over parties specifically engaged in international economic and trade activities. For example, national customs or tax authorities impose tariffs on imported and exported goods, inspections of import and export goods by the import and export commodity inspection department according to law, foreign exchange administration departments' management of foreign exchange in accordance with law, and other national functional departments in accordance with law in international technology transfer and investment Management implemented, etc. Therefore, in the process of managing the above-mentioned related international economic and trade activities, the state or state organs will also have one or more disputes with these managed persons.

In trade transactions between the state and foreign nationals, sometimes commercial contracts are also concluded directly, such as a concession agreement between the state and a foreign investor that allows foreign investors to develop their own natural resources. In this case, although the parties to the agreement The rights and obligations between them can also be determined through a contract, but as far as the legal status of the parties is concerned, the national status of a contracting party is obviously different from that of the state.

International trade disputes between countries

International trade disputes between nations refer to disputes arising from trade relations between sovereign states. Its characteristics are: First, disputes generally arise from the interpretation or implementation of bilateral or multilateral international conventions concluded between countries, such as the interpretation or implementation of bilateral trade agreements, investment protection agreements, avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion, and tax evasion agreements. Disputes in the United States and disputes arising from multilateral international economic and trade conventions, such as those in the interpretation or implementation of various agreements in the WTO. Second, both parties to the dispute are sovereign states, not nationals of these sovereign states. Third, non-judicial methods are the main methods of dispute settlement.

International trade disputes occur in the field of international trade;

The subject of international trade disputes is foreign;

The subject matter of the legal relationship in which the dispute occurred is located abroad or the act is completed abroad;

Legal facts that create, change or eliminate legal relationships occur abroad;

The law applicable to the settlement of international trade disputes may be determined by the parties through consultation, or the law of the country in which a party is located, or the law of a third country, or an international convention or international practice;

Various methods of settlement of international trade disputes and complicated procedures;

The subject of international trade disputes is often between countries, and political disputes are often accompanied during the settlement of disputes;

The multi-industry nature of international trade disputes. In order to better protect their own interests during the dispute, the responding party usually drags irrelevant industries into the dispute, making the trade dispute at risk of escalating into a trade war.

In international trade, there are many reasons for disputes and disputes, which can be summarized into the following situations:

(1) Whether the contract is established, the national laws of both parties and

In short, there are two main methods to resolve international trade disputes between nationals of different countries: judicial and non-judicial methods.

(I) Judicial methods

That is, settling international trade disputes through litigation. As there is no such court in the world that can specifically resolve such disputes and overrides the sovereign states, the judicial methods discussed here are international economic and trade disputes involving parties in different countries brought by the courts of one country. Courts of each country exercise jurisdiction over such disputes in accordance with their national civil procedure laws. Judgments made by the courts of one country require judicial assistance from the courts of another country if they need to be enforced in another country.

(2) Non-judicial methods

That is, dispute settlement methods other than courts, such as friendly negotiation or negotiation between the parties, or mediation or arbitration by a third party agreed by both parties. This method is also called selective dispute resolution (ADR). The premise of this dispute settlement method is the agreement reached between the parties to resolve the dispute through ADR.

In practice, there are two different views on what constitutes ADR in Western legal treatises: One view is that ADR refers to various methods agreed between parties to resolve their disputes through methods other than litigation. The general term for such methods as arbitration, mediation and mini-trial. That is, in addition to the method of dispute settlement through the court, all other methods of dispute settlement can be referred to as ADR, including negotiation between the parties, or mediation or arbitration by a third party.

Another view excludes arbitration from the ADR. The view is that, in the case of ADR, the settlement of a dispute depends on the parties to the dispute to automatically implement a dispute settlement plan that they have reached. The parties can also choose a neutral third party to assist them in settling their dispute, but the third party's role is different from that of an arbitrator, who has the right to make decisions that are binding on the parties. Therefore, the ADR agreement cannot guarantee a final decision that is binding on both parties, unless the parties reach an agreement on the settlement of the dispute and can automatically implement the agreement reached between them on how to resolve the dispute. This view also argues that arbitration was the earliest ADR procedure, but it is a quasi-judicial method for the arbitral tribunal to make legally binding decisions on disputes between parties. The ADR procedure mainly uses the "consensus" between the parties to resolve their disputes. Whether it is a dispute settlement plan reached between the parties or a solution proposed by a third party, it is not legally binding and cannot be Enforced by the court.

The legal norms for handling international trade disputes are mainly composed of two parts: international law and domestic law. The norms of international law mainly refer to international treaties signed by the international community in order to deal with economic disputes between states, between states and private persons, or between private persons of different nationalities. Such treaties can be roughly divided into three categories:

Bilateral international treaties dealing with international trade disputes

An international treaty refers to an international written agreement concluded between States and governed by international law. Among them, the treaties concluded between two countries are bilateral international treaties, and the international treaties concluded between multiple countries are multilateral international treaties.

The settlement of international trade disputes is one of the important contents of many bilateral international treaties, and many bilateral treaties provide for this. The aforementioned bilateral investment treaties generally include content for handling international trade disputes. For example, according to bilateral agreements between China and France, investment disputes should be settled through conciliation as much as possible; if no settlement is reached within six months, the host country can be reached The administrative authority applied for or filed a lawsuit in the host country court.

Specialized international multilateral treaties on international trade disputes

Specialized treaties on international trade disputes mainly refer to the aforementioned Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Other Countries (the Washington Convention), which was signed in 1965, and Annex II to the Constitution of the World Trade Organization ("Regulations and Procedures on Dispute Settlement" Letter of understanding ") etc. Such international treaties generally provide for arbitration or other special dispute settlement methods, and the dispute settlement mechanism provided by the World Trade Organization is an internationally distinctive and authoritative dispute settlement mechanism.

Judicial and arbitration treaties in international trade disputes

In terms of justice, the main treaties include the Statute of the International Court of Justice of 1945, which provides more comprehensive provisions for the settlement of international disputes; the Convention on Civil Procedure of 1954, and the 1965 Convention on Foreign Service of Non-litigation Documents and the 1970 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Cases.

In terms of arbitration, the main treaties include the Hague Convention on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes of 1899 and 1907, the Geneva Protocol on the Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1927, and the 1958 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards ( Hereinafter referred to as the "New York Convention"). At present, the New York Convention is the most influential international convention in the field of international arbitration. It has played an active role in enforcing the conditions of foreign arbitral awards and the procedures for requesting enforcement, and in promoting parties to adopt arbitration to resolve disputes. China has acceded to the Convention on January 22, 1987, but has made two reservations, namely reciprocal reservations and commercial reservations.

The legislation of various countries generally advocates jurisdiction over international trade disputes within their own countries. For certain types of international trade disputes, some countries have clearly stipulated in their legislation that their courts must have jurisdiction over their own courts, or that only national laws can be applied.

Generally speaking, the norms governing the handling of international trade disputes in domestic law are mainly arbitration law norms, which can be expressed as specialized arbitration laws or legal norms on arbitration existing in procedural law. Arbitration laws in some countries also provide for mediation procedures.