• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.23
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• pp.223-247
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• 2004

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law(hereinafter"UNCITRAL"), the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law, is currently in the process of preparing a draft instrument on the international carriage of goods. In order to facilitate and prompt for new draft instrument, Working Group Ⅲ was established under the auspicious of UNCITRAL in 2002. Working Group, which was composed of all member countries of UNCITRAL, considered the text of preliminary draft instrument on the carriage of goods by sea. According to the Working Group's report, this new convention deals with issues relating to the international ocean carriage of goods such as the scope of application, the period of responsibility of the carrier, liability of the carrier, obligations of the shipper and transport documents including electronic records. In the course of the second reading, however, there are lots of outstanding issues to deliberate and consider for formulating new version of the ocean cargo liability convention. One of the substantial issues is the snail's pace of progress in last sessions. Therefore legal adviser and industry representatives assume the next UNCITRAL meeting, in Vienna, Nov. 29-Dec. 10, would be more critical to complete the convention.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.20
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• pp.267-292
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• 2003

UNCITRAL considered a proposal to include in its work program a review of current practices and laws in the area of the international carriage of goods by sea, with a view to establishing the need for uniform rules where no such rules existed and with a view to achieving greater uniformity of laws. And UNCITRAL Working Party, as of April, 2003, is reviewing the UNCITRAL's Preliminary Draft Instrument which was originally prepared by CMI. As said above, the Preliminary Draft Instrument has a lot of improved provisions in relation to the scope of application, period of responsibility, obligations and liability of carrier, obligations of shipper and so on, but it has also some provisions which should be reconsidered in light of changed environments. Therefore, UNCITRAL Working Party has to prepare more complete and widely adoptable new uniform rules under the sufficient discussion.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.29-49
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• 2021

The Chinese Arbitration Law came into force in 1995 and has been implemented for 26 years. As a party to the New York Convention, there are many contradictions and conflicts between the Chinese Arbitration Law and the New York Convention on the issue of ad hoc arbitration, and this institutional disconnection can bring about problems such as misalignment of arbitration powers. On July 30, 2021, China's Ministry of Justice published a draft of the revised Arbitration Law for public consultation, and the draft has generated a lively debate among the public. This article explores the reasonable and inadequate points of the draft of Arbitration Law in light of the recent trends in the use of commercial arbitration in China, the COVID-19, the Free Trade Zone, and the relationship between the Civil Code and the Arbitration Law.

• 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.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2002

The purpose of this paper is to examine the scope of the application of Preliminary Draft Convention, which will be fixed as international uniform rules soon, in relation to the CISG. First, this Draft Convention will cover service contracts as well as sales contract of goods, but the license agreement will be excepted because it does not transfer the complete property. Second, this will cover the commercial contracts(sales or services) concluded by data message fully or partially. Third, this will be applied in international contract regardless of contracting states or non-contracting states. As it is very difficult to confirm the places of business of contracting parties in on-line contracts, the first criterion to confirm them is the indication by the party in each contract. This presumption may be supplemented, if they are not indicated in the contract, by the location of the equipment and technology supporting an information system used by a legal entity for the conclusion of a contract. It is essential to establish an international uniform rules as soon as possible in order to activate the international businesses with on-line basis. Thus this author hopes that this paper will contribute to the clear understanding to the scope of application of Preliminary Draft Convention for which the UNCITRAL is under working.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.20
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• pp.387-421
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• 2003

On the above, a comparison between preliminary draft conventions and comments by the Int'l Chamber of Commerce, contents of preliminary draft convention, problems and alternative are discussed. The conclusions are as follows thereof : The laws of MLEC and MLES made preparation for electronic era of CISG. But electronic circumstances are more changed than the time of regulation of them. Therefore the business world needs a stand-alone convention dealing broadly with the issues of contract formation in electronic commerce. At last, preliminary draft convention delivered a second round. But the base of the instrument was also MLEC and MLES. The revised preliminary draft convention is much amended beyond preliminary draft convention. At its forty-one sessions, the working group reviewed articles 1-11 of the revised preliminary draft convention presented by the secretariat. The remainder was pending until the time of its forty-two sessions. Therefore, on the base of deliberations and decisions of that sessions and them of thirty-six sessions of UNCITRAL, which will be held on comming november, the draft convention which will be prepared by the secretariate, be re-revised preliminary draft convention. According to review of working group on them, preliminary draft convention will officially be draft convention or revise by secretariate. Under these situations, my points of view on draft convention are as follows : As though e-UCP is used carring out side by side with UCP, after e-CISG making in order to adjust CISG to "on" transaction, it is very easy and prompt for business worked to use CISG with e-CISG. This will facilitate ratification of the CISG. For this case, I already presented contents of e-CISG. It is very important for the preliminary draft convention to deal specially with issues related to electronic contracting or to electronic transaction, because according to which way, its contents and scope of application will be different. But the revised draft convention is regretably compromising both them. Consequently, its contents are very confusing and we could not expect its success. If e-CISG will regulate, it is desirable that, if possible, working group has to make the general rule, and the making of useful, practical, affordable rule for electronic commerce, for example Uniform Customs and Practices for Electronic Commerce(e-UEC) in order to solve the specific practical problems, if any, which business currently faces regarding electronic contracting, has to entrust ICC. If working group want to make e-CISG, it is important not to hesitate and take a significant amount of time.

• 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.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.137-163
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• 2018

Efficiency in the arbitration proceedings and finality of arbitral awards have been key attractive features of arbitration. While finality of awards is due to the fact that there is no appeals mechanism in arbitration, other recourses that are available against arbitral awards threaten the integrity of finality of arbitral awards. This article examines some of these recourses, such as, setting aside of arbitral awards pursuant to the UNCITRAL Model Law, scrutiny of draft awards by arbitration institutions, and annulment proceedings of ICSID Convention awards and discusses the implications of these measures in relation to assuring finality of arbitral awards in international commercial and investment arbitration cases. In order to more effectively respect the disputing parties' autonomy in choosing arbitration, and also to give as much deference to arbitral tribunals' decisions and their discretion in reaching their decisions, it is proposed that an official appellate mechanism would be preferred over the undermining of finality of arbitral awards that have been taking place through the currently available exclusive recourses against arbitral awards.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.32
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• pp.59-91
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• 2006

The Arbitration Act of Korea was promulgated in 1966. Since the promulgation of Arbitration Act of Korea, consecutive amendments took place in 1973, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2002. Among the various set of amendments, those of 1999 were designed to accommodate the UNCITRAL Model Law on international Commercial Arbitration of 1985. Korea has acceded to special international conventions on dispute settlement such as the New York Convention of 1958 and the Washington Convention of 1965. The Korean Commercial Arbitration Board(KCAB) administers the arbitration proceedings in accordance with its Arbitration Rules approved by the Korean Supreme Court. Since the establishment of the first Arbitration Rules in 1966. consecutive amendments took place in 1973, 1981, 1989, 1993, 1996, 2000 and 2004. The KCAB plans to enact the International Arbitration Rules, which will be available to disputing parties in addition to the KCAB Arbitration Rules. In 2005, arbitration applications received at KCAB recorded a historic high at 213 cases, an increase of 22% from 175 cases in 2000. But in 2005, the total amount involved in the arbitration cases decreases to US$ 129 million, a decline of 63% from US$ 346 million in 2000. The KCAB should take the following measures for activating the commercial arbitration system: the globalization of KCAB, the advertisement of arbitration system, the security of qualified arbitrators, and the enhancement of the secretariat service. In conclusion, the KCAB should make efforts for the development of the arbitration system and for the upgrade of customer satisfaction. Moreover the KCAB should make further efforts to grow into a global arbitration institution as well as strengthening relations with international arbitration institutions.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.85-100
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• 2003

Legal rules applying to the commerce and international commerce in particular contracts, proper law, jurisdiction and so on, have improved with time and experience. Engaging in e-commerce on the World Wide Web may expose the company to the risk of being sued in any foreign country where Internet user can establish a legal claim. The modem law of contracts is highly sophisticated and difficult to understand. With contracts created in cyberspace, the basic rules are no difference that we can find. However, there are situations in e-commerce that are altogether new and to which the existing rules cannot apply. Here uncertainty and business risk is too high for trading partners to deal with certainty. Therefore existing law must change to e-commerce law so that it provides certainty and enforceability over e-commerce. UNCITRAL Working Group on Electronic Commerce prepared the Preliminary Draft Convention on [International] Contracts Concluded or Evidenced by Data Message from the thirty-ninth session in 2002 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.