Abstract: The object of this research is the transboundary online trade, as one of the lucrative forms of organizing and conducting business. There is currently active effort in Russia to create efficient commodity-distribution ecommerce system, which can be rapidly driven by manufactured product export. Thus the author pays particular attention to the existing uniquely low quota of duty free import of goods, which stimulates the growth of substantial competitive advantages of foreign online stores over their Russian counterparts. The author examines the statistical data of the ecommerce market, and analyzes Russian and foreign legislation regarding the mechanisms used to limit the norms of duty free import of goods for personal use through mail. A conclusion is made that there is pressing need for a complex and systemic regulation of online trade, the key role in which will be played by both, the technological and legal components.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the category of the “effectiveness of foreign trade legal convergence”. Currently, special relevance gain the questions regarding the development of a complex and optimal model of international economic and legal cooperation that considers the interests of states in efficient functioning of entrepreneurial environment. The growing amount of modern mechanisms in form of the international and domestic agreements along with the model laws, actualize the potential of the model that will allow seamlessly implementing the foreign experience into the national legal system. Thus, the study of theoretical and applied problems of the effectiveness of legal convergence remains topical. The author focuses attention on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of 1980 as a universal method for regulating the transboundary trading activities that is the interlink not only between the Anglo-Saxon and Continental law, but also diverse legal cultures and systems. The author examines the most complicated problem of the authentic and uniform interpretation of the provisions of Vienna Convention using the example of the “place of business” criterion. Studying the established Russian and foreign practice, the author concludes that despite the substantive amount of the Convention’s participating countries, the key issues remain unsettled and require a more comprehensive analysis in the course of regulatory activity through the collective effort of the representatives of various legal systems. The author also highlights the characteristic features of the effectiveness of foreign trade legal convergence and provides definition to the indicated category.

Abstract: This article examines the questions of definition of the notions “international contract” and “foreign trade agreement”. Despite the multiple attempts at convergence of the norms of Russian legislation and the norms of international law in the area of foreign trade, as well as their subsequent systematization, the question of proper interpretation of international contracts and determination of the “foreign” character of such contracts remains open, and provokes many disputes among theoreticians and practitioners. A special attention is given to the practice of international commercial arbitration in the Russian Federation, based on the criterion “place of business”. The key moment in the definition of the “foreign” nature of this type pf contracts will be the geographical location of the companies (place of business). There is no legal definition for “place of business”, yet the wide use of this notion in the practice of signing foreign trade agreements creates the need of its precise regulation at the legislative level. In this case, the special attention needs to be focused on the practice of the International Commercial Arbitration Court for Russian Chamber of Commerce, which characterizes the “place of business” as organizations located in different countries that are participants of the Vienna Convention of 1980.