Melbourne Law School The Melbourne Law Masters

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Subjects 2009


International Trade Law 730634

Objectives

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

  • Be aware of the legal problems that arise from international commercial transactions
  • Understand how the law of sale of goods, negotiable instruments, carriage of goods, securities, taxation and dispute settlement is affected when goods and services are traded across national boundaries
  • Be familiar with the ways in which trading parties resolve or reduce problems created by the international nature of their relationship
  • Understand how international conventions, treaties and intergovernmental agreements promote, regulate and restrain trade
  • Be aware of the various ways in which government regulation may affect international commercial transactions
  • Be familiar with different types of marketing structure used in international trade, and Australian law relating to each type.
Syllabus

Principal topics will include:

  • The contracts by which trade in goods takes place: Sale, transport, payments, insurance
  • Marketing and licensing structures: Distributors, agency, franchising, licensing, transfer of technology
  • The impact upon trade of international institutions and agreements: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization
  • Impediments to, and regulation of, international trade: Anti-dumping, duties, antitrust
  • Regulation of international investment
  • Conflict of laws issues in international trade
  • Resolution of disputes in international trade litigation, arbitration, alternative dispute resolution and the recognition of foreign judgments and awards.