The Problems of Concluding an International Commercial Contract in the Electronic Form in the Law of the Countries of the Eurasian Economic Union

Abstract

The modern development of the electronic means of communication allows using the electronic form when concluding international commercial contracts. The ambiguous understanding of the electronic form of a contract and the existence of special requirements for the form of international commercial contracts in the law of the countries of Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) require the legal analysis of the problems associated with the conclusion of these contracts in the electronic form and the development of the appropriate recommendations to the parties to such contracts. The methodological framework for the study was a set of general scientific (dialectical, historical, inductive, deductive, analytical, synthetic) and specific scientific (formal legal, comparative law, legal modeling) methods. The conclusion of international commercial contracts with the participation of merchants from EAEU foreign countries in accordance with the law of these countries requires them to be made in the written form or the electronic form which is equivalent to it, provided with the electronic signature, under the threat of their invalidity. When applying Russian law to such a contract and not complying with the written form of the international commercial contract it is sufficient for the parties to provide written and other evidence of its conclusion in order to deem it to have been concluded. More liberal are the rules of the UN Convention “On the use of electronic communications in international contracts”, when choosing the rules of which the exchange of electronic messages without the need to accompany them with the electronic signatures is sufficient as the law applicable to the contract. The current trend of liberalization of the form of international commercial contracts in terms of its legal regulation necessitates the improvement of the legislation of EAEU foreign countries, which could meet this trend. In this regard, it is necessary for the legislator of EAEU foreign countries to refuse the imperativeness of the provision concerning the written form of an international commercial contract and the consequences associated with its non-compliance. The next step in liberalizing the form of an international commercial contract for EAEU foreign countries could be the accession to the UN Convention “On the use of electronic communications in international contracts” of 2005. Methodology The methodological framework for the study was a set of general scientific (dialectical, historical, inductive, deductive, analytical, synthetic) and specific scientific (formal legal, comparative law, legal modeling) methods.