Demystifying Private International Law for International Commercial Contracts
Demystifying the difficulty in understanding the theoretical approach that private international law has traditionally adopted and translating this into a suitable framework for drafting relevant contractual clauses in international commercial contracts is the focus of this chapter, considering the perspective of the Argentinian and the Uruguayan laws. Most lawyers are used to applying the law of the legal system in which they have trained as practitioners. Faced with cross-border cases lawyers need to become familiar with private international law methodologies and techniques. Understanding the challenges of choosing the “appropriate” courts is important for raising awareness of any possible pitfalls in drafting contracts. The applicable framework in the case, the conditions required for an eventual enforcement judgement, the place where the evidence is located, the cost of the lawyers and transfers of parties and witnesses and the need for documents to be translated, are relevant facts to choose the competent courts, when it is allowed. Therefore, private international law has a facilitative role for contractual parties giving appropriate solutions in jurisdictional issues and offering efficient alternatives for the selection of the applicable regime, that must be known for all legal operators.