International sales agreements

Choice of jurisdiction and law clauses

When parties trade on a global basis, they have to consider which country's courts will deal with any disputes. It's essential that the relevant jurisdiction is agreed beforehand to avoid costly arguments about it later.

You'll also need to agree which country's law will govern the contract. This is the law that will apply if there are any disputes as to what the contract terms mean, and whether the parties have fulfilled their obligations and can enforce their rights under the contract. Usually you'd want the same country to have jurisdiction so that it's applying its own law. If you're the seller you'd probably want the law of your country to be the law of the contract. There are rules that apply when the parties haven't specifically chosen the law of the contract. These sections look at these issues in more detail.