PIL.OT / DEVELOPMENT
PIL.OTv0.59.1
Yelyzaveta Oleksandrivna Stroha investigates whether electronic consent expressed through online arbitration clauses in foreign-trade contracts satisfies the form and validity requirements of an arbitration agreement. The analysis focuses in particular on click-wrap, browse-wrap, hyperlink incorporation and smart-contract clauses in business-to-consumer relationships.
The comparative study considers approaches in the United States, the European Union and Ukraine, together with the 1958 New York Convention and the UNCITRAL Model Law. Stroha argues that, under functional equivalence, the decisive factor is not the physical medium but a reliable, accessible and reproducible electronic record of consent, and proposes amendments to Ukraine’s international commercial arbitration legislation.
Whether electronic consent expressed through an online arbitration clause in a foreign-trade contract satisfies the form and validity requirements of an arbitration agreement, particularly in business and consumer relationships.
The central legal question is how electronic consent expressed in a digital environment can satisfy the form and validity requirements of an arbitration agreement. The functional-equivalence approach shifts the assessment from the physical medium to the reliable demonstration of consent, alongside a proposal for express legislative regulation in Ukraine.
Kherson State University Herald Series Legal Sciences · 2026
DOI 10.32999/ksu2307-8049/2026-3-4
Єлизавета Олександрівна Строга, “ОНЛАЙН-АРБІТРАЖНЕ ЗАСТЕРЕЖЕННЯ У ЗОВНІШНЬОЕКОНОМІЧНИХ ДОГОВОРАХ ЯК ФОРМА РЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ АВТОНОМІЇ ВОЛІ СТОРІН У ЦИФРОВОМУ СЕРЕДОВИЩІ”, Kherson State University Herald Series Legal Sciences, 2026-09-01, 10.32999/ksu2307-8049/2026-3-4. https://doi.org/10.32999/ksu2307-8049/2026-3-4