PIL.OT / DEVELOPMENT
PIL.OTv0.62.2
Leni Indrawati, Dhaniswara K. Harjono, Adi Nur Rohman and Elly Rachman examine the legal certainty problem posed by blockchain-based smart contracts that automate cross-border commercial performance. They show that code-based performance does not, by itself, resolve consent, validity, liability, applicable law, international jurisdiction, evidence, remedies or enforcement.
Using normative legal research and a comparative analysis of instruments and regulatory developments in Indonesia, the United States, the European Union, Singapore, UNCITRAL and UNIDROIT, the authors find that functional equivalence and technological neutrality support legal recognition. They propose a UNCITRAL-oriented Transnational Smart Contract Regulation model covering legal recognition, blockchain evidence, electronic signatures, party autonomy, code auditing, cybersecurity, online dispute resolution and enforcement.
Harmonising consent and validity, applicable law, international jurisdiction, blockchain evidence, dispute resolution and enforcement for cross-border smart contracts
The work makes clear that automated performance by code does not remove questions of applicable law, international jurisdiction, evidence, remedies or enforcement in cross-border contracts. Its proposed model addresses those questions through functional equivalence, technological neutrality and risk-based regulation rather than through fragmented national rules.
Siber International Journal of Advanced Law (SIJAL) · 2026
DOI 10.38035/sijal.v4i1.417
Leni Indrawati, Dhaniswara K. Harjono, Adi Nur Rohman, Elly Rachman, “The Urgency of Regulating Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts in International Business Law: Legal Certainty and Global Regulatory Harmonization”, Siber International Journal of Advanced Law (SIJAL), 2026-09-23, 10.38035/sijal.v4i1.417. https://doi.org/10.38035/sijal.v4i1.417