A steel factory (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – A seminar took place in Ho Chi Minh City on October 6 to help businesses prevent risks and address disputes in international trade.
The event was co-organised by the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) and the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC).
Participants held that in recent import-export activities, many Vietnamese enterprises have met with risks when selling or purchasing goods from foreign partners, who did not seriously implement the signed contracts.
According to Nguyen Minh Hang, Dean of the Law Department under the University of Foreign Trade, said that the main reason of trade disputes in Vietnam over the past time was the quality of goods. Therefore, businesses should look into regulations on goods quality and goods quality examination in contracts they will sign.
Most Vietnamese firms did not consider thoroughly articles in the import-export contracts and felt puzzled in addressing trade disputes in import-export activities, she said, adding that they were not aware of the importance of trade arbitrators and consulting experts about legal regulations while signing trade contracts so they were at a disadvantage compared to their partners in trade disputes.
When facing trade disputes, businesses need to seek support from trade arbitrators to have effective solutions, said Vu Xuan Phong, VIAC Vice President.
As the UN Convention on International Sale of Goods (CISG) will take effect in Vietnam on January 1, 2017, experts said enterprises should examine their import-export contracts carefully to take advantage of benefits from the convention.
CISG now has 85 member nations, including most of Vietnam’s major partners like the EU, the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Canada.-VNA
