Our firm assists companies and individuals in their international operations and disputes, with recognised expertise in private international law, international sanctions and customs law.

Our Areas of Practice

Thanks to our network, we are able to support our clients worldwide, with a rigorous and tailored approach.

International trade law: securing companies’ cross-border operations

International trade law brings together the rules governing economic operations that cross the border of a single State: negotiating and drafting international contracts, determining the governing law and competent jurisdiction, complying with sanctions and export control regimes, protecting against the extraterritorial reach of foreign laws, foreign investment screening, and customs regulation. This field combines private international law, economic law and public law, and demands constant monitoring given how fast the applicable rules — European, national and foreign — evolve. The firm advises French and international companies on structuring their cross-border operations as well as managing disputes and compliance risk.

Negotiating and drafting international contracts

Incoterms and risk allocation in international sales

The choice of Incoterm applicable to an international sale of goods determines the point at which risk transfers between seller and buyer, the allocation of transport and insurance costs, and the customs formalities each party must handle. An Incoterm poorly suited to the nature of the goods, the mode of transport or the commercial relationship can generate costly disputes or expose one of the parties to risks it had not anticipated; the choice of Incoterm should be coordinated with the payment method used (documentary credit, documentary collection, bank guarantee) to secure the transaction.

Governing law and dispute resolution clauses

Every international contract should fix, from the outset of negotiations, the law that will govern it and the chosen method of dispute resolution — a designated state court or international arbitration (ICC, UNCITRAL, local institutions). In the absence of a clear clause, conflict-of-laws rules (the Rome I Regulation for contractual obligations, Hague Conventions for certain specific matters) apply by default, sometimes with an outcome far removed from what the parties expected. Drafting these clauses, often treated as a secondary matter in commercial negotiations, directly determines the effectiveness of any later recourse.

International sanctions and compliance

Economic sanctions regimes adopted by the European Union, the United States (OFAC) or the United Nations impose restrictions or prohibitions targeting certain countries, individuals, entities or sectors. A company may be directly targeted by an asset freeze or a prohibition, or indirectly affected as the counterparty, bank or service provider of a sanctioned person. Challenging a designation, handling licence or exemption requests, and setting up internal compliance programmes (due diligence, third-party screening) are at the heart of this practice.

Extraterritoriality of foreign laws

Certain legislation, particularly of US origin, claims extraterritorial application that can reach French companies with only a tenuous connection to the United States — use of the dollar, reliance on a US correspondent bank, or export of goods of US origin. Assessing exposure, bringing internal procedures into compliance and, where necessary, defending against proceedings brought on this basis require a careful analysis of the applicable foreign law and the room for manoeuvre available under French and European law (including blocking statutes).

Foreign direct investment screening

A foreign investor’s acquisition of a stake in a French company operating in a sensitive sector (defence, critical technologies, essential infrastructure, among others) may be subject to prior authorisation from the Ministry of the Economy. Anticipating this procedure — characterising the transaction, preparing the notification file, negotiating any commitments — determines the timeline and, at times, the very feasibility of the investment, whether led by a fund, an industrial group or a foreign group.

Customs and trade regulation

Tariff classification of goods, customs origin, customs value and suspensive regimes determine the real cost of an import-export operation. European customs reform, which strengthens compliance obligations applicable in particular to cross-border e-commerce, is reshaping operators’ reporting obligations and requires a regular review of internal customs clearance and flow traceability procedures.

Hardship and force majeure in international contracts

Geopolitical crises, supply disruptions, and currency or freight cost swings can upend the economic balance of an international contract concluded before they arose. Whether hardship, force majeure or a contractual hardship clause can be invoked depends closely on the law governing the contract and on how the relevant clauses were drafted; anticipating these situations from the negotiation stage, through renegotiation or adaptation clauses, avoids lengthy and uncertain disputes once performance of the contract becomes unbalanced.

International arbitration and cross-border dispute resolution

International arbitration remains the preferred method for resolving commercial disputes between parties of different nationalities, given the neutrality it offers and the near-universal recognition of arbitral awards under the 1958 New York Convention. The choice of arbitral institution (ICC, UNCITRAL, regional institutions), seat and governing procedural law should be anticipated from the drafting of the contract, and conducting the proceedings themselves requires a command of rules specific to international arbitration, distinct from those of ordinary court litigation.

Resources and international trade law news

The firm publishes a weekly summary of legislative, regulatory and case-law developments in international trade law, together with downloadable practical guides on the topics most frequently faced by exporting companies and international investors.

See all our international trade law news →

Practical guides to download

• How to challenge international sanctions
• Foreign direct investment

Frequently Asked Questions

What law applies to an international commercial contract?

In the absence of a governing law clause, the EU Rome I Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 593/2008) designates the applicable law for contracts between professionals within the EU. For the international sale of goods, the Vienna Convention of 11 April 1980 (CISG) applies by default between signatory states, unless expressly excluded by the parties.

Which court has jurisdiction in a dispute with a foreign business partner?

Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, known as “Brussels I bis”, determines jurisdiction within the European Union. Outside the EU, jurisdiction depends on bilateral treaties or, failing that, French private international law rules, subject to a jurisdiction clause or an arbitration clause.

How can a company challenge international sanctions (EU, OFAC, UN)?

Before the EU, an action for annulment can be brought before the General Court of the EU (Article 263 TFEU) within two months. Before OFAC, a delisting request or a specific license application can be filed directly with the US Treasury agency.

What is the extraterritoriality of US law and who is affected?

It refers to the application of US laws (OFAC sanctions, the FCPA, export controls under EAR/ITAR) to foreign companies whenever a transaction involves the US dollar, a US subsidiary, or goods or technology of US origin — making many French exporting mid-caps and SMEs answerable to Washington.

Which Incoterms should be chosen to secure an export transaction?

The Incoterms 2020 rules published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) allocate risks, costs and responsibilities between seller and buyer. The choice depends on the mode of transport, the level of control sought over logistics, and the degree of trust placed in the business partner.