Cách sử dụng các điều khoản giải quyết tranh chấp trong hợp đồng thương mại quốc tế với tập trung vào Việt Nam Introduction 1. Background International trade has become such an important part of the Vietnamese economy in recent decades that nowadays the term has got familiar with you on the media or in daily life. Vietnamese companies could buy and sell almost everything on the world market through the bridges of export and import. As the result of opening the door to the global marketplace and lifting regulations or barriers to trade, more foreign products could be purchased here in Vietnam, as well as Vietnamese products could reach out to those distant markets. Our domestic firms are eager to participate in the world economy with the goals of getting profit and gaining more experiences from doing business internationally. The impacts of international trade on Vietnamese economy could be seen in many fields: from technology, labour, to investment and management, in which some considerable improvements have been achieved such as a large amount of FDI, increasing productivity, etc. However, what the leaders and managers could expect from international trade would not only be limited to success and profit, but also difficulties and conflicts in some cases. Disputes in international trade arise from various reasons and causes that are occasionally unexpected for both parties that enter the international business relationship. If those parties can negotiate to solve the problem by themselves, it would cost the minimum amount of energy and money for them, and the contract could end in peace. What would happen if negotiation could bring about no agreement between parties? What would they do next to solve the dispute? This question could bother many companies when they do international trade, with their limitation of legal awareness of both their domestic law and their partners’ law. For Vietnamese companies, dispute settlement and settlement methods in international commerce are still quite a new topic, especially when they consider litigation or court hearing would be the best solution for their disputes in domestic transactions. The experiences of legal awareness and practice of various methods of dispute settlement by many countries in the world could help those enterprises in their perception of the resolution of international commercial conflicts. The international commercial contract is such an important evidence of the transaction between parties, in which they agree to perform whatever is concluded or written. This thesis will try to deal with the facts of dispute settlement by international arbitration as the foundation to analyze the activity of commercial arbitration in Vietnam, as a mean of the dispute settlement clause of the international commercial contract. 2. Research purpose Based on the study of theoretical review about various sources of law and legislations by many countries and Vietnam specifically, this thesis would focus on the legal aspect and application of arbitration clause in commercial contracts of international trade, in order to help Vietnamese companies prepare for international business. 3. Research objectives The objectives of this thesis would be mainly the following: To review about the international commercial contracts and their dispute settlement clauses To find out the dispute settlement methods that are used in reality in the world and specifically in Vietnam To find out the practice of dispute settlement clauses by Vietnamese companies to give them some recommendations Besides the index, introduction, conclusion and reference, this thesis is consisted of 3 main parts: Chapter 1: Overview of international commercial contracts and dispute settlement clauses Chapter 2: Usage of dispute settlement clauses in international commercial contracts with concentration on Vietnam Chapter 3: Recommendations about dispute settlement clauses in contracts for Vietnamese companies Introduction. 1 1. Background. 1 2. Research purpose. 2 3. Research objectives. 2 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS AND DISPUTE SETTLEMENT CLAUSES. 4 1.1 Overview of international commercial contracts. 4 1.1.1 Commercial contracts. 4 1.1.2 International commercial contracts. 6 1.2 Dispute settlement clauses in international commercial contracts. 9 1.2.1 Dispute and dispute settlement in international commerce. 9 1.2.1.1 Disputes. 9 1.2.1.2 Dispute settlement methods. 11 1.2.2 Dispute settlement clauses. 15 1.3 Importance of dispute settlement clauses. 21 CHAPTER 2: USAGE OF DISPUTE SETTLEMENT CLAUSES IN INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS WITH CONCENTRATION ON VIETNAM . 23 2.1 Usage in the world. 23 2.1.1 Legal awareness. 23 2.1.2 Usual practice of clauses. 29 2.2 Usage in Vietnam 39 2.2.1 Legal awareness. 39 2.2.2 Usual practice of clauses. 45 2.3 Some comments. 53 2.3.1 Advantages. 53 2.3.2 Drawbacks. 56 CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT DISPUTE SETTLMENT CLAUSES IN CONTRACTS FOR VIETNAMESE COMPANIES. 58 3.1 Trends of international commercial contracts in Vietnam 58 3.2 Some recommendations for Vietnamese companies. 62 Conclusion. 66 REFERENCE 67