Soft Law in International Trade Finance

Agatha Brandão de Oliveira is a dual-qualified lawyer based in Switzerland. She coordinates a research project on Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts at the University of Lucerne and is co-editor of a number of textbooks on private international law, including Global Private International Law: Adjudication without Frontiers (Elgar, 2019). Lauro Gama is an Adjunct Professor at the Pontifical Catholic Univ. of Rio (PUC-Rio), where he teaches Private International Law, Contracts and International Commercial Arbitration. He has made significant contributions to the field of soft law through his authorship, most notably Les principes d’UNIDROIT et la loi régissant les contrats de commerce (Brill, 2019). He is also a founding partner of Lauro Gama Advogados Associados. Geneviève Saumier, Dean, Faculty of Law, Université de Montréal, previously Peter M. Laing Q.C. Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, McGill University, is a recognized expert in private international law. Her research focuses on the resolution of international disputes, consumer law and cross-border class actions. She is the co-rapporteur for the Explanatory Report of the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention.

List of Figure and Tables



PART 1: General Report



1 The Effectiveness of International Legal Harmonization through Soft Law (with a Focus on the UCP 600)

 Agatha Brandão de Oliveira, Lauro Gama and Geneviève Saumier

 1 Part I

  1.1 Introduction

  1.2 The Role of Soft Law in International Trade

  1.3 An Overview of Letters of Credit and the UCP

  1.4 The UCP as Soft Law

 2 Part II

  2.1 The UCP and How It May Apply to Govern Letters of Credit

 3 Part III

  3.1 The Future of the UCP as a Harmonizing Tool

 Annex 1

 Annex 2

 Annex 3



PART 2: Special Report



2 Letters of Credit as Products of Transnational Customary Law: What Does That Mean?

 J.H. Dalhuisen

 1 Introduction

 2 The Issue of Transnationalisation: the Modern Lex Mercatoria, Its Sources, and Their Hierarchy

 3 The Modern Lex Mercatoria, Its Sources, and Their Hierarchy in Respect of the Letter of Credit

 4 Practical Significance of the Transnational Approach

 5 Law, Soft Law, and the Role and Function of an International Commercial Court

 6 Conclusion



3 A Primer on Trade Finance and the UCP

 Alexander R. Malaket

 1 Context: International Trade and Financing

 2 Trade Financing

  2.1 Traditional Trade Finance and SCF

  2.2 The Four Elements of Trade Finance

  2.3 Transaction Flow, Rules and Market Practice

  2.4 Documentary Letters of Credit

  2.5 Balancing Rules, Guidance and Market Practice

 3 Complementary Rulesets and Guides

 4 icc and the ucp

  4.1 Revisions of ucp

  4.2 Harmonised Practice in Trade Finance

 5 The Ucp: Harmonisation through Soft Law?



PART 3: National Reports



4 Argentina

 Ariel G. Dasso

5 Australia

 Sheelagh McCracken and Andrew Boxall

6 Austria

 Andreas Schwartze

7 Belgium

 Antoine De Spiegeleir

8 Brazil

 Ligia Maura Costa

9 Canada

 Michel Deschamps

10 China

 Yanan Zhang

11 Czechia

 Naděžda Rozehnalová and Jiří Valdhans

12 Egypt

 Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab

13 Finland

 Onerva-Aulikki Suhonen

14 France

 Dominique Doise and Valérie Mayer

15 Germany

 Olaf Meyer

16 India

 Saloni Khanderia

17 Japan

 Hiroo Sono

18 Mexico

 Miguel Angel Bustamante

19 The Netherlands

 Marta Pertegás Sender and Marielène Wertenbroek

20 Nigeria

 Abubakri Yekini and Kolawole Mayomi

21 Norway

 Berte-Elen Konow

22 Paraguay

 Pablo A. Debuchy Boselli

23 Russia

 Andrey Shirvindt

24 South Africa

 Michelle Kelly-Louw and Wilhelm G Schulze

25 Sweden

 Lars Gorton, Johan Adestam and Helen Ström Nilsonne

26 Switzerland

 Renato Costantini

27 Turkey

 Ceyda Süral Efeçınar, Ekin Ömeroğlu and N. Tuğçe Bilgetekin

28 United Kingdom

 Anna-Mari Antoniou

29 Venezuela

 Fernando Sanquírico Pittevil

30 Vietnam

 Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc



Index