Course 2024-2025 a.y.

Classes: 31 (II sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: PIETRO SIRENA

The course is designed to familiarise students with the main features of international contracts, with an emphasis on business-to-business transactions. The expected goal is that students become knowledgeable about the structure and the main content of international contracts as well as about the liabilities involved in their negotiations and execution. Attending students are also expected to become aware of some of the skills and the techniques required to negotiate and draft international contracts.

-Notion and structure of international contracts.

-Sources of the law that is to be applied to international contracts (national legal systems, international law, soft law).

-Pre-contractual liability and pre-contractual instruments.

-Standard forms.

-Representations and warranties.

-Hardship and force majeure.

-Penalty clauses and liquidated damages.

-Boilerplate clauses.

-International commercial litigation and arbitration.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

Illustrating the notion and structure of international contracts and the sources of the law that is to be applied to them.

Describing the process of negotiating international contracts

Identifying the main contractual terms

Understanding the allocation of risks between the contracting parties

Explaining the pre-contractual, contractual, and post-contractual responsibilities of the parties

Understanding the systems of settling disputes between the contracting parties

At the end of the course student will be able to...

-Using appropriate terminology

-Assessing strategies for pre-contractual negotiations and risk allocation between the contracting parties.

-Drafting a generic international contract.

-Drawing up a document dealing with legal issues and presenting it orally.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Group assignments
• Interactive class activities on campus/online (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

Guest speakers will speak about their own field of expertise in class or give separate lectures.

Exercises will involve research of printed and/or electronic legal resources.

Case studies will be illustrated and discussed in class.

Group assignments will consist in drawing up a memorandum supported by a PwP presentation.

Interactive class activities will consist in discussing memoranda and peer evaluating them.

	Continuous assessment	Partial exams	General exam
Written individual exam (traditional/online)			x
Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)			x
Active class participation (virtual, attendance)			x

Attending students are req1uired to take two partial exams: partial and end-of-semester. Each of them consists of multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions. The program of each partial exams will be

announced in class. The evaluation weighting is the following: -40% partial exam; -50% final exam; 10% attendance and participation in individual and group assignments.

Students failing to pass either of the two partial exams are required to take a general exam, consisting of multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions. The program of the general exam will be announced in class. The evaluation weighting is the following: -90% general exam; 10% attendance and participation in individual and group assignments.

Exams are purported to verify that students have achieved a certain knowledge of:

-the notion and structure of international contracts as well as the sources of the law that is to be applied to them; - the process of negotiating international contracts;

-the main contractual terms and the allocation of risks between the contracting parties;

-the pre-contractual, contractual, and post-contractual responsibilities of the parties; the systems of settling disputes between the contracting parties

Individual and group assignments are purported to verify that students have achieved the necessary skills and abilities to: -make use of the appropriate terminology;

-assess strategies of precontractual negotiations and of allocation of risks between the contracting parties; -draft a generic international contract; -drawing up a document dealing with legal issues and present it orally.

Non-attending students are required to take two partial exams: partial and end-of-semester. Each of them consists of multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions. The evaluation weighting is the following: -50% partial exam; -50% final exam.

The program of the partial exam is the following: Larry A. DiMatteo, International Contracting. Law and Practice (5th edn, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2022): Chapters from 1 (included) to 5 (included). The program of the end-of-semester partial exam is the following: Larry A. DiMatteo, International Contracting. Law and Practice (5th edn, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2022): Chapters from 6 (included) to 8 (included); Chapters 12 and 13; P. SIRENA, 'The Contracting Parties' Choice of European Soft Law: Its Validity and Limitis', available on the Bboard platform. The footnotes can be read for sake of information but must not be covered for evaluation purposes.

Students failing to pass either of the two partial exams are required to take a general exam, consisting of multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions. The program of the general exam for non-attending students is indicated in the section on teaching materials for non-attending students (see below).

Exams are purported to verify that students have achieved the knowledge of: the general principles and rules applicable to the most important branches of private law; the main differences between civil law and common law of contract, tort, and property; the relevant issues related to international contracts; and the impact that legal rules can produce in the market and on the behavior of businesses and consumers.become aware of the main challenges of drafting international contracts

Attending students are responsible for the teaching materials discussed in class and available on the Bboard platform.

They can also use as a source of information the following text:

Larry A. DiMatteo, International Contracting. Law and Practice (5th edn, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2022):

-Chapters from 1 (included) to 8 (included)

-Chapter 12 and 13.

Non-attending students are responsible for the following textbook:

- Larry A. DiMatteo, International Contracting. Law and Practice (5th edn, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2022):

- Chapters from 1 (included) to 8 (included)

- Chapter 12 and 13.

-P. SIRENA, 'The Contracting Parties' Choice of European Soft Law: Its Validity and Limitis', available on the Bboard platform.