international
How do you go about conducting business internationally?
<p>I have a few questions on this topic. Let's assume the following:</p>

<ul>
<li>Company A is based in China and Company B is based in Mexico.</li>
<li><p>Company A has no presence in Mexico. Company B has no presence in China. Company A wants to pay Company B for its service.</p></li>
<li><p>Company A and Company B will be signing an agreement to formally
establish their working relationship.</p></li>
<li><p>Company A wants legal protection over this deal, i.e. Company A might
sue Company B if necessary.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Given this,</p>

<ol>
<li>Is Company A required to have an entity in Mexico to enforce its legal rights?</li>
<li>Should the contract signed by both parties be a contract based on the local laws of Mexico?</li>
<li>If your answer to both of the questions above is "Yes", can this process be scaled? (Company A wanting to repeat this process with other companies from different countries)</li>
</ol>

<ol>
<li><p>No. A plaintiff may travel to the defendant's jurisdiction to file suit if desired. Nobody usually does this, though, due to travel and logistical considerations. The defendant is the one who decides whether to challenge jurisdiction. </p></li>
<li><p>Good contacts will include a forum selection clause which would lay out what happens where in the event of a dispute. And this can be anywhere, it is not limited to the locations of the plaintiff and the defendant. </p></li>
<li><p>N/A. </p></li>
</ol>

<ol>
<li>No. 2. It depends 3. It depends</li>
</ol>

<p>First of all, you should <strong>seek advice from a lawyer that specializes in bridging the gap between the two jurisdictions</strong> involved. This is important. A regular lawyer from your home jurisdiction will be unfamiliar with the various pitfalls you will encounter abroad, and a lawyer from the foreign jurisdiction may take for granted what you aren't aware of, so he may not explain the pitfalls you'll run into either.</p>

<p>As a general rule, you should be using <strong>well-written contracts that include a choice of forum court clause and a governing law clause</strong>.</p>

<p>Choice of forum clauses can be tricky because a court in another jurisdiction might apply its own laws to it and declare the clause void ... and voilà you end up in a foreign court.</p>

<p>You will have to choose which laws will apply to the contract. At the first glance, it will seem that keeping governing law and forum court in your own country is the better option. However, agreeing to a foreign governing law and a foreign forum court also comes with advantages: Your partner will have a clear understanding of the obligations that arise from the contract and suing your customer would be quite straight-forward. The opposite case (customer sues you) would be more difficult because he would have to file suit in his own jurisdiction, but service, domestication and enforcement would have to be made internationally.</p>

<p>Another issue with choice of forum clauses is that if a claim is being dismissed for being filed in the wrong jurisdiction, you may have to pay the fees for your own lawyer because the lex fori don't entitle you to fee recovery. I would include a clause in the contract that allows you to sue for damage compensation in the right jurisdiction if this case arises.</p>

<p>When doing business with China in particular, there are certain pitfalls you should be aware of, such as:</p>

<p>• China doesn't enforce foreign court judgements, although this may change in the near future.<br />
• Large payments from China to other countries require government approval and are subject to taxation.<br />
• International process service from other countries to China tends to be slow.<br /></p>

<p>For further reading about doing business with China, I suggest this blog: <a href="https://www.chinalawblog.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.chinalawblog.com/</a></p>
