| International payments have always been an important issue in international commercial law. Negotiable instruments, electronic funds transfers and documentary credits have all proven to be successful, at least to some extent. Electronic commerce raises a new challenge in this respect, since none of these instruments are adapted for an open network environment.; A major characteristic of Internet commerce is that buyers and sellers trade at distance without having much information about each other. On the one hand, the buyer is interested in receiving the merchandise in good condition; on the other hand, the seller wants to be paid. Stated otherwise, the risk of non-delivery or non-payment is very important for the counterparties.; So far, international trade has been mainly the domain of large multinational corporations, although smaller firms have taken advantage of cross-border business for some time. The Internet has revolutionized this trend and has fostered the activities of small and medium-size enterprises. However, these small enterprises encounter several difficulties. First, the current payment system is not well suited for smaller commercial transactions; second, North American legislation and interbanking regulations are not adapted for Internet small-value business payments, and furthermore, there is no harmonization; third, the intrinsic nature of the Internet represents a serious challenge for the resolution of conflicts of laws and jurisdictions.; Under these circumstances, electronic commerce requires a specific and efficient payment system for small-value transactions in North America. The first contribution of this thesis is to propose an Internet payment scheme adapted to the needs of North American small and medium-size enterprises. Such a model should work in a delivery versus payment pattern—used in documentary credit transaction—in order to lower the risk of non-delivery or non-payment.; The second contribution focuses on the opportunity to model my proposed model of payment after international conventions. To this regard, it is my belief that the most appropriate manner to govern my proposed payment scheme is via uniform rules, which would be advantageous for both counterparties. |
