1. Risk points regarding the subject of the contract

1. The foreign party is only signed by an individual

In international business practice, foreign companies do not include corporate signatures on contracts The custom of sealing is often signed by an individual on behalf of the enterprise, and the signatory is usually the person in charge of the enterprise or an authorized employee or agent. However, if the domestic enterprise fails to review the authorization of the signing representative, and after a dispute occurs, once the foreign enterprise raises the defense that the signing representative is not authorized, the domestic enterprise will easily fall into a passive position.

2. Use affiliated companies to steal and replace others

For example, the contract header shows that the contracting party is the powerful American Company A, but the actual seal is the affiliated Hong Kong Company A. , the two companies only have slightly different names, but if the company that actually stamps or signs the contract is an offshore company or leather company that has no ability to perform, the other party can achieve the purpose of evading the debt.

Preventive measures

When signing contracts, domestic enterprises should increase their awareness of risks and correctly identify and select contract entities to avoid unnecessary losses.

2. Intellectual Property Risk Points

1. Regional Risk of Intellectual Property

Due to the regional nature of intellectual property, the same trademark can be legally registered in one country. In another country, it may constitute infringement due to preemptive registration by others. For example, my country's trademarks such as "Tongrentang" and "Dabao" were preemptively registered in Japan and Southeast Asian countries, resulting in genuine products being accused of infringement when entering these markets.

2. OEM processing infringes on intellectual property rights

In OEM processing trade (OEM, commonly known as OEM production), in order to obtain orders, domestic exporters often ignore the review of the entrusting party Whether you have legal trademark rights, patent rights and other intellectual property rights, blind production, and infringement of third party intellectual property rights after export.

Preventive measures

Enterprises should enhance their awareness of intellectual property rights and pay attention to self-protection. On the one hand, we must pay attention to the research and development of independent intellectual property rights. On the other hand, for patent rights and trademark rights that have been obtained domestically, we should obtain the corresponding intellectual property rights as early as possible in the sales process through international applications and overseas registrations to avoid the situation of "Li Kui becomes Li". ghost" situation. Export enterprises should conduct a thorough investigation of the intellectual property rights of export commodities before production to avoid infringement.

How to prevent the risks of import and export trade? Foreign trade agent

3. Goods quality risk points

1. Mandatory standards are not up to standard

For example, a domestic company exports fabrics to foreign countries, and the contract stipulates that 100 cotton fabrics . After the goods arrived at the destination port, the foreign party found that the cotton content was less than 78% and required a return and refund. The Chinese company paid a high price for breach of contract. This is a quality risk.

Developed countries in Europe and the United States have formulated very high mandatory standards for quality, environmental protection, and hygiene for food and medicine. Even if these standards are not stated in the contract, they will be compulsorily applied, and domestic exporters cannot defend themselves on the grounds that they are not stipulated in the contract.

Preventive measures

Enhance refined management of products, improve product quality and technical content, and enhance product competitiveness. The mandatory standards of the importing country must be understood in advance and production must be strictly in accordance with the standards.

IV. Arbitration risk points

1. The arbitration agreement is unclear

In international trade, although arbitration is a method of resolving disputes with sufficient autonomy, simple procedures, and Information confidentiality and other characteristics, but there are also certain risks. In practice, there are cases where the arbitration agreement is deemed invalid because the parties to the contract are unclear about the relevant contents of the arbitration agreement.

For example, some agreements are unclear about the arbitration institution, some are unclear about the arbitration matters, and some are unclear about the finality of the validity of the arbitration award, etc.

2. Overseas arbitration is expensive

Some international trade contracts stipulate that disputes shall be arbitrated by overseas arbitration institutions, such as in Singapore and Switzerland. Once a dispute occurs, it will incur high costs for domestic enterprises to go overseas to participate in arbitration.

Preventive measures

Develop a clear and specific arbitration agreement.

An arbitration agreement generally includes three items: first, the expression of intention to request arbitration, second, the matters submitted to arbitration, and third, the selected arbitration institution. In addition, the place of arbitration, the place of hearing, the applicable law of the arbitration, the nationality of the arbitrator, the application of ordinary procedures or simplified procedures, etc. can also be added.