Jurnal Hukum Perdagangan

“The Law Applicable to International Trade Transactions With Brazilian Parties: A
Comparative Study of the Brazilian Law, the CISG, and the American Law About Contract
Formation”

Anelize Slomp Aguiar
Master of Laws, 2011
Graduate Department of Law
University of Toronto


ABSTRACT


Despite Brazil’s importance in the world economy and its increasing participation in foreign
trade,  there  is  considerable  legal  uncertainty  regarding  the  law  applicable  to  international
commercial  contracts  involving  Brazilian  parties  because  Brazilian  judicial  courts  do  not
respect  parties’  freedom  to  choose  the  governing law,  thus  this  determination is  only  made
by a judge, according to Private International Law rules of the forum. Applying these rules,
this study demonstrates that there are at least three potential legal regimes: the Brazilian law,
the  United  Nations  Convention  on  Contracts  for  the  International  Sale  of  Goods,  and  a
foreign  domestic  sales  law.  Making  use  of  the  American  law  as  the  foreign  law,  a
comparative analysis of these three legal regimes regarding contract formation demonstrates
that  their  approaches  are  very  distinct,  and  this  confirms  the  legal  uncertainty.  In  order  to
reduce this problem, three different strategies are proposed to the Brazilian government.