The Contract of Carriage of Goods contains the following provision: “This

Contract shall be governed by the law of the State of the establishment of the
defendant”.
Using the Rome I Regulation and the Law of Ukraine “On International
Private Law “answer the following questions:
May this provision be considered as a choice of law clause?
What law shall be applied if a countersue has been filed?

A contract shall be governed by the law chosen by the parties. The choice shall be
made expressly or clearly demonstrated by the terms of the contract or the
circumstances of the case (art.3 (1) Rome I Regulation)
Article 5 (1,2) of the Law of Ukraine “On PIL”:
1. У випадках, передбачених законом, учасники (учасник) правовідносин
можуть самостійно здійснювати вибір права, що підлягає застосуванню до
змісту правових відносин.
2. Вибір права згідно з частиною першою цієї статті має бути явно вираженим
або прямо випливати з дій сторін правочину, умов правочину чи обставин
справи, які розглядаються в їх сукупності, якщо інше не передбачено законом.
The Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts:
Article 4
Express and tacit choice
A choice of law, or any modification of a choice of law, must be made expressly or
appear clearly from the provisions of the contract or the circumstances. An agreement
between the parties to confer jurisdiction on a court or an arbitral tribunal to
determine disputes under the contract is not in itself equivalent to a choice of law.

There are some wordings in the contract which confirm an express choice of
applicable law. They specify the law of a particular country.
"This contract shall be governed by the law of State X." This is sufficient to
constitute a choice of law by the parties.
Sometimes the parties seek to escape the application of conflict of law rules of the
country which law they would like to apply to their contract.
It this case they may provide that the contract shall be governed by the substantive
law of the country X.
The choice of law is also express if the parties do not indicate the law of a particular
country, but set the general principle for the determination of applicable law.
"This contract shall be governed by the law of the State of the establishment of the
seller."