• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.12
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• pp.615-641
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• 1999

Trade and the environment emerged as a major and complex issue for trade negotiators in the final stages of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The agreements and other international measures employing trade measures and trade sanctions for achieving global environmental objectives are Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer(1985), the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer(1987), The Framework Convention on Climate Change(1992), the Convention on Biological Diversity(1992), the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal(1992), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Faunna and Flora(1975), the Rio Declaration, the Agenda 21, etc. The texts of the World Trade Organization(WTO) incorporated certain provisions which were designed to reflect some of the environmental concerns are Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Properity Rights(TRIPs), Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs), the General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS), and Technical Barriers to Trade(TBT) There is the possibility of conflict between multilateral environmental agreements and WTO agreements granting waivers against trade measures and sanctions. This remains a possibility, especially between countries which are Member of WTO and which are not Members of the relevant multilateral environment agreements, and countries which are Members of both the WTO and the relevant MEAs. Measures taken under the trade-related provisions of MEAs could potentially give rise to conflicts under obligations arising in WTO texts. If the parties in dispute are WTO members while they are not members of MEAs, the WTO provisions can be granted a certain priority in terms of international norms and vice versa. When the parties concerned are both WTO members and MEAs, it will be rational to grant the WTO provisions a priority. However, such measures should neither constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between countries where similar conditions prevail, nor create a disguised restriction on trade. Also any trade measures taken should be necessary to prevent developments in trade from endangering the effectiveness of an MEA and they should be proportional and least trade restrictive.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.12
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• pp.253-276
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• 1999

CISG articles 34 and 37 clearly allow the seller to cure any nonconformity in documents of sale or performance prior to the date for delivery if it does not cause the buyer unreasonable inconvenience or unreasonable expense. CISG article 48 allows a seller to cure the performance even after the date for delivery if it does not cause the buyer unreasonable delay, unreasonable inconvenience or unreasonable uncertainty of reimbursement by the seller of expenses advanced by the buyer. The wording any failure to perform is broad enough to include a delay. The seller's right to cure relates to all his obligations. The seller may remedy 'any failure to perform his obligations'. This language is broad enough to include a defect in documents. In some cases the fact that the seller is able and willing to remedy the non-conformity of the goods without inconvenience to the buyer, may mean that there would be no fundamental breach unless the seller failed to remedy the non-conformity within an appropriate time. It cannot generally be said what unreasonable inconvenience means. This can only be decided on a case-by-case basis. The seller must bear the costs involved in remedying a failure to perform. The curing of a failure to perform may have influence on the amount of the damage claimed. Insofar as the seller has the right to cure, the buyer is in that case obliged to accept the cure. If he refuses to do so, he can neither avoid the contract nor declare a reduction in price. This rule clearly shows the underlying concept of the CISG, to keep to the contract, if possible. Should the buyer requires delivery of substitute goods and the seller offers repair, it depends on the expense each case. The buyer must receive the request or notice by the seller. The relationship between the seller's right to cure and the buyer's right to avoid the contract is unclear. The buyer's right to avoid the contract should not nullify the seller's right to cure if the offer is reasonable. In addition, whether a breach is fundamental should be decided in the right of the seller's offer to cure.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.12
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• pp.227-252
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• 1999

In this Article the writer introduces the origin and preparation of "the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts". In May 1994 the Governing Council of the UNIDROIT gave its formal imprimatur to the UNIDROIT Principles and recommended their widest possible distribution in practice. After brief discussion of the establishment procedure of the UNIDROIT Principles the writer discusses the legal nature of the Principles as an international restatement of contract law. The UNIDROIT Principles has more flexibility than international convention. But it has deficit in the sense of legal stability. Also the scope of application of the Principles was discussed. It can be applied only to the international commercial contracts. It includes two basic principles in it's application, i. e. "commercial contracts" and "international contracts". For the rest of the Article the writer concentrates on the contents of the Principles and the basic ideas underlying the Principles from the point of view of the comparision between the UNIDROIT Principles and "the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods" (CISG). The UNIDROIT Principles are only restatements and the CISG is an international convention. The application of the CISG is obligatory due to its nature as an international convention. In the contrary the possibility of the application of the UNIDROIT Principles is more flexible. The UNIDROIT Principles is a more comprehensive instrument than CISG. Therefore it can be applied to all kinds of international commercial contracts. In the contrary the CISG can be applied only to international sales contract. Since CISG only deals with contracts for the sale of goods, and the scope of the UNIDROIT Principles is much wider, no overlap can occur where contracts other than sales contracts are concerned. Rather the UNIDROIT Principles can supplement the CISG and the CISG also can be criteria in interpreting the UNIDROIT Principles. As the conclusion the writer summarizes the meanings of the UNIDROIT Principles and presupposed the futur perspectives of the Principles.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.12
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• pp.133-162
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• 1999

The international sale transaction is in essence a sale of goods and presents all those commercial and legal problems in any sale of goods. As a result, A International sales contract imposes several duties on the parties : the seller must deliver the goods and transfer ownership in them, while the buyer must pay the price and take delivery of the goods. However, there are several problems which impede a active transaction between seller and buyer who have their places of business in other countries each other. Therefore, It is necessary to provide the concept on the conformity of goods in the Int'l Sale of Goods. Especially, In our consideration for the point of time when defects occurs, the existence of non-conformity of goods should be judged on the basis of time of delivery rather than time of contract. Moreover, The burden of proof about nonconformity of goods is another fact which make an international dispute between the contractual parties in an international trade. Thus, The consistency in the interpretation of law must be maintained betweened the warranty and seller's liability. In the Uniform Commercial Code and UN Convention, non-conformity of contract is made of contract liability. And in our civil and commercial law provisions of warranty should be understand as the special ones of the provisions of general non-performance of obligation liability. As a result, More concrete study of them is required because they may have a great influence especially on international trade. As a result, We should be our best in finding a helpful and systematic structure that the dualistic structure of nonperformance of obligation liability and warranty liability must be unified by studying the theories of English and American warranty and our legal system, as well as international practice and usage being used in an international trade.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.12
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• pp.65-84
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• 1999

During the past few decades, we have witnessed three approaches to overcome the legal disparities between trading countries: - determining the individual governing law in accordance with the conflict of laws principle; - unifying and harmonizing private international law into uniform rules and substantive laws under the auspices of ICC, UNCITRAL, UNIDROIT and various NGOs ; and - drafting model laws like the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce and promoting member countries to enact them. Against this backdrop, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the process by which it was adopted, established the benchmark for the unification of commercial law. The CISG, completed in 1980, merged civil and common law concepts and came into force in 1988 after a certain number of countries endorsed the treaty. Besides the CISG, the U.N. Limitations Convention and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Law, to name a few, have attempted to set cross-border legal norms and standards in the international business transactions. However, since the advent of computer-based commerce, there have emerged all-out efforts to establish uniform rules before national legal systems have been developed. As a consequence, the Model Law on Electronic Commerce has become a specimen legislation covering functional equivalents of paper-based writing and signature. For the credit enhancement exemplified by the Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees (ICC Publication No.458), the UNCITRAL prepared the U.N. Convention on Independent Guarantees and Stand-by Letters of Credit, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1995 but remains still not effective as only two countries have ratified this treaty so far. In this connection, two draft conventions underway at UNIDROIT and UNCITRAL deserve our attention as the probability of unification in the Korean Peninsula is mounting. They are to create security interests for commercial finance in moveable equipment and accounts receivable. The UCC-type security rights are regarded to be useful to enable the North Koreans with limited properties to borrow from the banks.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.13
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• pp.767-804
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• 2000

International network strategy is intended to examine the validity of existing network-centered theories in order to ascertain why small-and medium-sized enterprises are useful as a strategic correspondence to the internationalization trend. Small-and medium-sized enterprises can be estimated as being vital majorities in terms of their flexibility to meet changable conditions in international marketing compared with the conglomerates Therefore, their dependency on a few conglomerates for the international economy can be diverged. Generally, the successful internationalization of industries can be derived from the creation of suitable strategies for its competence and quality with the effective correction and completion of its strategy and tactics through mistakes. The internationalization strategy of small-and medium-sized enterprises should not be the reckless pursuit of internationalization that depends only on the increase of investment or the simple induction of the other conglomerates strategic models, but it should be accomplished through the evolution and practice of the concrete strategies that will be more proper for the enterprise's property and efficiency. The results of analyses with proof can be summarized with two effects in large in the process of internationalization of domestic small-and medium-sized enterprises. First, the capacity for internationalization of firms results from a long-term training procedure and continuous development of managing activities. Then in time this becomes an important element for the small-and medium-sized firms in terms with its position targeted international trading. However, the domestic enterprises are showing their abilities in the international competition in quantity, and trying to establish relationships between the enterprises through international networks. Second, statistics might not be meaningful in part because of the lack of data for analysis. It seems that more useful results will be derived from obtaining and utilizing sufficient information and from establishing an inter-relationship between the small-and medium-sized enterprises which are investing in foreign companies.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.75
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• pp.199-224
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• 2017

As Multi-National Enterprises expanded their investments to foreign countries, numerous controversies and disputes arose from their negative impacts, such as violations of human rights and damage to the environment of the host countries. In response, International Organizations such as the OECD have considered various ways to prevent these negative impacts and search for more efficient dispute resolution methods. It is recognized that the OECD Guideline is one of the tools they created for this purpose. The OECD Guideline is contrastable from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives which are regarded as a corporation's charity activities apart from their core business functions. However, Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) like the OECD Guideline can be understood as a concept moving forward from CSR, due to its requirements that corporations carry out their duties in a responsible manner within the field of their core business, such as tax, global supply chain or consumer protection. RBC which is binding in nature, has even been implemented through legislation in developed countries such as the USA, France, Switzerland, and the UK. The discussion in Korea, however, has not reached that level. Discussions for legislation center singularly on CSR efforts, with a dialogue only recently forming around the topic of legislation concerning RBC. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who lack certain financial and other resources to adequately develop RBC initiatives may find this more obstacles to implementation through legislated RBC, than if it were presented in Korea through other means. It's necessary to admit that RBC is a critical issue in international business. However, time is required to consider its application directly to SMEs.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.20
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• pp.467-493
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• 2003

There are situations in e-commerce that are altogether new and to which the existing rules cannot apply. The uncertainty and business risk is too high for trading partners to deal with certainty. Therefore existing law must be changed to e-commerce law so that it provides certainty and enforceability in the e-commerce. Legal rules applying to the commerce and international commerce, in particular, contracts, proper law, jurisdiction and so on, have improved with time and experience. It has been found that the problems arising in the context of e-contracting were due to the absence of experience in electronic contracting and an absence of knowledge on how best to solve the problems. Thus, UNCITRAL Working Group on Electronic Commerce held an extensive discussion on issues related to electronic contracting and prepared and revised the Preliminary Draft Convention on International Contracts Concluded or Evidenced by Data Message from the thirty-ninth session in 2002 and prepared the Draft Convention from forty-first session which applies to international contracts concluded or evidenced by means of data messages. An electronic contract is concluded when the acceptance of an offer becomes effective, and an offer becomes effective when it is received by the offeree, and an acceptance of an offer becomes effective when the indication of assent is received by the offeror according to this Convention. Electronic contract may be concluded by the interaction of an automated computer system and natural person or by the interaction of automated computer systems, and a contract formed by a natural person that accesses an automated computer system of another person has no legal effect in case the neutral person made a material error in a data message. The purpose of this paper is to raise the understanding of the Convention on the Electronic Contracting by studying the contents of Draft Convention on Electronic Contracting and comparing Draft Convention with preliminary Draft Convention and finding the difference, characteristics and problem.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.28
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• pp.91-117
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• 2005

The purpose of this paper is to examine practical and legal considerations in the choice of the "Seat of Arbitration". As the selection of the "Seat of Arbitration" in an international commercial contract is vital both judicially and practically, so to speak, in terms of enforceability of award, judical interference in arbitration proceedings, relative convenience and expense, and the selection of arbitrators, the selection should be carefully considered and examined. In case of institutional arbitration, when the arbitration clause does not nominate the seat, the administrator or the secretariat of the institution or the arbitrator tribunal would usually determine the seat. On the contrary in case of ad hoc arbitration, Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the "Seat of Arbitration" would be determined according to the rules which are selected by parties or their arbitrators. To avoid confusing situation about the selection of the seat, this writer would like to recommend ICC or LCIA with each Standard Arbitration Clause. If the parties want any national arbitration institution because of the expenses incurred in international institution, AAA or CEPANI is recommendable in terms of the reputation, operating system and recognized performance. Specially ICC Court of Arbitration usually examines the award before it is issued, so the enforceablity would go up. Thus when the parties lay down the arbitration clause in their contract they should confirm whether the "Seat of Arbitration" is fixed or not. If not, at least they should examine the arbitration rules which would be applied, and know in advance how the seat be determined.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.17
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• pp.7-35
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• 2002

In many international financing transactions Korean companies are required to issue a guarantee. Thus far, however, legal issues on international guarantees have not been fully discussed in Korea. This is partly because most of the international guarantees are governed by a foreign law such as English law or the laws of the State of New York. In this articles the author examines major concepts or terms and conditions of a typical international guarantee, e.g., language on consideration, primary obligor, joint and several guarantee, unconditional and irrevocable guarantee, continuing guarantee, right of subrogation, representations and warranties, covenant or undertaking, currency indemnity, assignment, participation, governing law and jurisdiction clause, etc. For reference, standard forms of a guarantee and a standby letter of credit are attached to the article. In examining the terms and conditions, the author compares them with similar or equivalent concepts under Korean law. The author further discusses some Korean law issues that may arise under international guarantees governed by a foreign law. These issues include the application of the ultra vires doctrine under Article 34 of the Civil Code of Korea, the validity of an international guarantee which a Korean company has issued in violation of the guarantee ceiling set under Article 10 of the Law on Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade of Korea and the validity of an international guarantee which a Korean party has issued in violation of the Foreign Exchange Transaction Law. In addition, the author discusses some issues under a so-called independent guarantee and a standby letter of credit. In this regard, reference is made to the Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantee (URDG), International Standby Practices (ISP98) and the Convention on Independent Guarantees and Stand-by Letters of Credit adopted by the United Nations in 1995. Finally, the author examines major terms and conditions of typical comfort letters and discusses some legal issues, such as the binding force of the comfort letter. In dealing with the issues the author underscores that to the extent the issues are not properly dealt with by an international norm such as Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits or ISP 98, the issues must be analyzed by reference to the governing law of the relevant instrument.