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SCHOOL OF LAW
LLM in LAW 2015/2016
LAW6163 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS
Re-assessment
This is a 15 credit module assessment.
You are required to submit an assessment of not more than 3,000 words in length.
Answer all parts:
You work for a local business advice organisation set up in partnership between the local council and the local chamber of commerce to help and support importers and exporters of goods in South Yorkshire. You have many years previous experience acting as a commercial director for a number of companies dealing with both import and export contracts. Your role is to provide advice to local businesses about international business transactions.
PART ONE
Ian Prescott of Prescott Trading Ltd has asked for your advice concerning problems with a contract he agreed in November 2015 for the purchase of 500 electric fan heaters.
Ian tells you Prescott Trading agreed to purchase the fans from LB Corporation (LBC) a manufacturing company based in Shanghai, China. The contract provided that property in the goods would pass on payment. Payment was made on 6th November 2015 and the goods shipped on 15th November 2015. The contract also provided that English law would govern the contract and FOB incoterms® would apply. It was also agreed the Hague Visby rules would apply. Pursuant to the FOB incoterm® Prescott Trading arranged shipment nominating RS Baskind as the vessel to carry the goods and specifying delivery at Hull in January 2016. The shipment has just arrived at Hull but it has been discovered on unloading that some, but not all, of the fan heaters have been damaged during transit.
Ian Prescott also explains to you the situation is even more complicated as it has become apparent that at the time the goods were shipped LBC also loaded onto the same ship another 500 fan heaters for delivery to another English customer. All the fan heaters have been shipped together in a number of containers and are not distinguished one from the other. It was intended the ship’s crew would have divided the heaters into two distinct batches before the ship docked in Hull.
Advise Ian (30 marks)
Continued
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PART TWO
Eric Roach of Allen Steels Limited has phoned you. It contracted to purchase 500 tonnes of iron ore from AO Minerals in South Africa. The contract provided for the ore to be shipped FOB and that the Hague Visby rules applied. Unfortunately the ship has been hijacked by pirates and when the owners of the ship refused to pay a ransom for its return the ore was dumped at sea. Eric is concerned about whether or not his marine insurance will cover Allen Steels for this loss. Several national and international organisations had issued warnings about pirates operating off the coast of East Africa and recommended routes passing through this area be avoided.
Advise Eric (20 marks)
PART THREE
Sally Macneil of Macneil Jewellers (Sheffield) Ltd (MJS) has contacted you. Sally is an internationally recognised jeweller that sells high value silver, platinum and diamond jewellery to exclusive dealers and jewellery galleries around the world. She has agreed to sell a batch of jewellery worth some £50,000 to a purchaser in Greece. Given the financial situation of Greece Sally is anxious to ensure payment is made before she ships the goods but the buyer wants a credit period. She contacted you for some advice and you suggested the following compromise:
A documentary credit be entered into in favour of MJS by a Greek bank and also confirmed by an English bank. The terms of the documentary credits are to be in accordance with UCP600 and the law of England and Wales is to apply to them. They provide that upon presentation of the relevant documentation to the London Bank MJS will be presented with a bill of exchange that can be presented for payment in 60 days.
Sally is not quite sure what the effect of a bill of exchange is. In particular she wants to know whether it will provide MJS with any security in terms of actual payment, and whether she can use bill of exchange to raise capital to buy in further supplies.
Advise Sally (15 marks)
It is now two weeks later. Sally has been informed that the Greek purchaser is alleging that the jewellery that has been delivered to it is defective. Accordingly the purchaser instructed its Greek bank not to pay MJS.
Advise Sally (15 marks)
Continued
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PART FOUR
Chris Osborn of Heel and Toes Limited has contacted you. Heel and Toes imports shoes into England and then sells them on to English trade buyers. Heel and Toes is in the process of negotiating a large purchase contract with an Italian supplier. The supplier has suggested any contract that is entered into is subject to Italian law so that the terms of the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) can apply. He has asked you to explain the main differences between the CISG and English Law.
Advise Chris (20 marks)
One electronic copy of this assessment must be uploaded via MOLE no later than 3.00 p.m. on Tuesday 30 August 2016. One paper copy of this assessment must be handed in at room DG10 no later than 4.00 p.m. on the same day. For full details of the assessment submission procedure please access the following webpage:
http://lawstudents.group.shef.ac.uk/PGAssessmentGuide/index.php
This assessment accounts for 100% of your mark in this module.
Strict penalties will be applied to assessments that are submitted late or exceed the permitted maximum word length – see below. You should also be aware of the severe penalties applied for plagiarism, self-plagiarism and collusion. Please read your Student Handbook for full details. Please note that the School of Law routinely submit all assessments via the specialist plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion software ‘Turnitin’.
An online copy of the handbook can be viewed in the community space on MOLE. Failure to read the Student Handbook will not be accepted as a reason for infringing the rules on the maximum word length, late submission, plagiarism, self-plagiarism or collusion.
Overlength Work
Penalties for over-length coursework submission will operate where a candidate infringes the number of words permitted in respect of the particular piece of assessed coursework. Please note the word length for coursework is the maximum permitted not a guide.
The School of Law has adopted the penalty procedure below for overlength coursework.
Continued
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Overlength by:
Deduction from final mark
Up to 0.9%
No penalty
1 – 10%
10%
11 – 25%
25%
25 – 50%
50%
50% +
Work will be given a 0 which will grade module overall as NC (Not Completed)
“Undercounting” (ie cheating by claiming that an essay has a word length lower than the true count)
Work will be given a 0 which will grade module overall as NC (Not Completed)
Lateness Penalties
If coursework is handed in after the time and date for submission, a penalty of 5 percent of the actual mark for that coursework is deducted for each working day that the coursework is late. For this purpose, coursework that is handed in at any time on the next working day after the submission date is treated as having been handed in one working day late.
Day late
Mark reduced by 5%
Mark awarded when reduced by 5%
Mark awarded when reduced by 5%
Multiply by
Example: 60%
Example: 50%
1
0.95
57
47.5
2
0.90
54
45
3
0.85
51
42.5
4
0.80
48
40
5
0.75
45
37.5
6
Work will be given a 0 which will grade module overall as NC (Not Completed)
Work will be given a 0 which will grade module overall as NC (Not Completed)
Work will be given a 0 which will grade module overall as NC (Not Completed)
In respect of penalties applied for lateness and over length, the lateness penalty shall be deducted first, followed by the relevant deduction for excessive word use.