Waldburger, M: Decision Support in Contract Formation for Co

Electronic business in the Internet has become an important driver for economic growth. The provisioning of commercially offered electronic services in the Internet - e.g., content, news, or social networking services - requires the conclusion of an international contract in case the respective service is provided across borders. In international contracts, two contractual parameters are of key importance: jurisdiction and applicable law. Jurisdiction indicates which state's courts are authorized to hear and decide on a potential contract conflict, while applicable law indicates under which state's law a court decision shall be found.The way jurisdiction and applicable law choices are made in international service contracts today is often not compliant with the relevant provisions of Private International Law (PIL). Jurisdiction and applicable law terms are usually present in terms of choices made, but these choices may be illegitimate. Illegitimate choices are voided (and replaced by PIL-compliant terms) should a dispute arise and a contract claim be deposited in a court.Given this risk and the imminent uncertainty outlined, service providers and customers alike need support in forming international service contracts. In particular, they need to know about jurisdiction and applicable law choices they can rely on. To date, however, there is no alternative available to the static, PIL-ignorant way adopted currently. This lack is perceived as a major hurdle to foster adoption of (international) electronic business.Hence, in a pioneering effort to support service providers and service customers in international service contracting, a decision support system is developed. This system - named De- RISC (Dispute rEsolution Recommender for International Service Contracts) - produces a list of recommended jurisdictions and/or applicable laws during contract formation phase. Recommendations are determined in an automated and compliant manner according to the PIL-driven