O movimento de padronização contratual e o uso de contratos padrão em negociações internacionais

Abstract

The present work aims to analyze the phenomenon of contractual standardization in the scope of international trade, identifying the commercial associations with international reach that create standard contracts for use in the main sectors of the world economy. It intends to examine how the movement of contract standardization in the international field is related to the lex mercatoria and to the efforts towards the uniformization and harmonization of international contracts’ rules, as well as to evaluate the influence that the use of standard contracts has on the pre-contractual phase. In light of the increasing internationalization of legal relations, the spread of capital flows and foreign investments and the globalization of the economy, it is necessary to improve or create new instruments to conduct international business, in order to meet the demands of the market and the needs of the business community for security and stability. The business community, organized through highly prestigious professional associations, started to develop model contracts to deal with international transactions that are increasingly complex, detailed and robust, notably in segments such as oil, infrastructure, commodities, derivatives, and others. The use of these model contracts as a starting point for the elaboration of the final contract draft is capable of altering the usual dynamics of the negotiations between the parties, which is why it is essential to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of their use, as well as to verify the adequacy of the model to the operation in question before the parties decide to use them.