INTERNATIONAL LEGAL RESEARCH GUIDE
AUDIENCE & SCOPE
Define the scope of the topic and the jurisdiction. Indicate the intended audience.
This research guide is for U.S. nationals who are interested in exporting goods into Chile. The guide will provide resources for finding the legal rules involved in an export transaction into Chile. This guide will include both private internationalcommercial law and the Chilean Commercial Code (el Código Comercio de la República de Chile).
HYPOTHETICAL FACT SCENARIO
Create a guiding hypothetical fact scenario that gives a specific example of a person or entity with a difficult legal issue to resolve for whom your research guide would be useful.
Suppose you have a client named California Health Products, Inc. (CHP), which isincorporated in California, has its headquarters and warehouse facilities in California, and manufactures all of its products at its plant in California. CHP primarily manufactures and sells health products. The president of the company is considering the possibility of trying to sell CHP products in Chile. He wants to either establish a local subsidiary or branch office in Santiago, or enter into acontract with a sales agent or distributor there. He is also concerned that there may be special regulations that apply to his products.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Identify 3-5 sources for basic background information; print or online research guides and secondary sources that provide an overview of your topic, historical or comparative perspective, etc. Give a brief description of each source andanalyze the relevance of each source to your research guide topic.
• John W. Head, GLOBAL BUSINESS LAW: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE AND INVESTMENT, 2d ed. Carolina Academic Press, 2007
• Ralph Folsom, Michael W. Gordon, and John Spanogle, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS IN A NUTSHELL (7th ed. 2004).
• Jerold A. Friedland, UNDERSTANDING INTERNATIONALBUSINESS AND FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS (2002).
• N. Horn and C. Schmitthoff, THE TRANSNATIONAL LAW OF INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS (1982).
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PRIMARY LAW SOURCES
Identify primary law sources: statutes, treaties, constitutions, administrative/regulatory materials, as relevant; compiled legislative histories or travaux preparatoires, if any; key cases, if relevant. Direct the readerto the core authorities for your topic. Give a brief description of each source and analyze the relevance of each source to your research guide topic.
Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”, or “Vienna Sales Convention”); it constitutes in effect an international commercial code. It concerns itself with the sorts of issues that would appear in any other commercialcode (i.e., contract formation, seller’s obligations, buyers’ obligations, passing of risk, remedies, excuse, etc.). It is also a treaty, binding in international law on the states that are parties to it. (Chile: Effective date: 1 March 1991; Declarations and reservations: Chile has filed an Article 96 declaration); (United States: Effective date: 1 January 1988; Declarations and reservations: TheU.S. has filed an Article 95 declaration).
• Uniform Customs and Practice (“UCP”) relating to international documentary letters of credit (prepared by the International Chamber of Commerce “ICC”)
SECONDARY SOURCES
Identify specialized secondary sources. These are analytical materials like treatises, databases that provide critical commentary, law journal articles or symposiums,government reports, expert analyses, etc. This is the heart of the guide. Give a brief description of each source and analyze the relevance of each source to your research guide topic. In this section, you must designate two sources as key or significant.
• UNIDROIT Principles on Commercial Contracts. Like the CISG, the UNIDROIT Principles set forth rules and standards that are intended to…