V.

ANTITRUST LAWS
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• these laws are known as “antimonopoly laws” designed to

promote fair competition.

• The existence of monopolies, single sellers in their respective

industry and where there are very high barriers to enter this
industry, prevent consumers or customers from getting the best
deal.

• These laws encourage competition to pressure companies to be

more innovative and efficient. It prohibits collusion among the
businesses that thwarts competition among themselves.
VI. PRODUCT SAFETY LAWS
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• Product safety law establishes the standards of product safety to

which the manufacturers and sellers of products are to be held. These
standards vary considerably in countries around the world.

• Some countries place relatively lax safety standard obligations on

product manufacturers and sellers operating essentially under a
regime of caveat emptor or “buyer beware.”

• In such jurisdictions, the burden is placed on the buyers of products to

determine their level of safety. It is up to the buyers of such products
to be “beware” of any health or other risks that might result from
using these products.
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• Other countries, the United States being one of them, have nearly
move to the opposite end of the products safety law spectrum,
essentially adopting a regime of caveat vendor or seller beware.

• In such countries, the burden is placed on the manufacturers and

sellers of products to make sure the products they sell are safe or,
at least, to very clearly and explicitly warn consumers about the
potential safety risks of said products.

• Manufacturers and sellers of products clearly need to be

specifically aware of the different product safety law standards
that exist in the countries where they operate.
VII. DISPUTE SETTLEMENT
LAW
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• Dispute settlement law is the law governing how disputes that

arise in the course of global business are settled. There are
basically two ways to potentially resolve a dispute, a public option
and a private option.
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• The public option is to resolve the case through litigation, which

means bringing the case to a public or government-run court of
law to settle the dispute

• . One significant problem of taking disputes of this kind to the

courts is that courts throughout the world generally have
considerable backlogs; thus, it may take a year or more before the
court is even able to hear the case.

• Moreover, court cases, with their formal procedures, often take

many months to try even after they get on the docket.
Consequently, many global businesses are now choosing to
resolve their disputes via a private process called arbitration.
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• Arbitration is an alternative dispute resolution process agreed to by the relevant

parties whereby a neutral private party hears the case and renders a decision.

• A contract between the parties may have a provision stating that any disputes
arising under that contract will, in lieu of going to court, be heard and decided by
an independent private arbitrator. Indeed, the contract may even specify the
arbitrator (e.g., a prominent former jurist) that will hear any disputes. Arbitration
cases tend to be heard and decided rather quickly; a clear advantage given the
time sensitivity of international business contracts.

• Moreover, absent clear misconduct on the part of the arbitrator (e.g., taking a
bribe from one of the parties), arbitration decisions are almost always deemed
final and binding on the parties – meaning they can’t be appealed to the courts.
Given the finality and binding nature of arbitration decisions, however, it is very
important for parties to make sure they have full confidence in the arbitrator they
agree to hear their dispute(s).