This volume contains sections on company law, dispute resolution, employment law, insolvency law, intellectual property law, taxation and finance and other general commercial issues. There are a number of chapters which tackle cross-border issues, such as taxation, jurisdiction and arbitration, while others concentrate on specific geographical areas, such as the Asia-Pacific region. Some authors explore problems in the workplace, including the reduction of the workforce and incidents of racial discrimination within it, issues of which all employers need to be aware. Also examined are those subjects which are ever-present in the life of a business, among them bankruptcy and insolvency, procurement, intellectual property, investment, contracts and other matters of company law. Other chapters comprise an in-depth look at the Vienna Convention on the "International Sale of Goods", a specialized discussion of patent second medical use claims, an explanation of how criminal sanctions are being applied to crimes against the environment, a report of the devaluation and dollarization of an economy and an interesting insight into the effects of a nation's culture and traditions upon its legal system. This volume of the yearbook contains chapters on a wide variety of issues which arise regularly in the commercial world, but it also contains discussions on more specialized topics. These will not only be of use to the practitioners and business people involved in those areas, but should be useful reading for those who are not and provide an introduction to subjects which they may find useful in the future.

This year's volume of the "Comparative Law Yearbook of International Business deals with various aspects of the arbitration process. Some of the areas covered include the appointment of arbitrators, the points to be borne in mind by arbitrators during the conduct of arbitral proceedings, the evidentiary procedures involved in arbitration, and the advantages and disadvantages of arbitration when pitted against conventional litigation. Crucial to any successful arbitration is good preparation, in particular the setting down in an arbitral agreement of the intentions of the parties with regard to any future disputes that may arise between them. Ideally, the parties should agree, "inter alia, upon the type of arbitration, the choice of law, the "situs, and the number and appointment of arbitrators. The appointment of the arbitrators is a very important consideration in the conduct of an arbitration procedure. First, one must decide whether a sole arbitrator or a panel of three or more arbitrators is preferable in the specific circumstances, taking into account such criteria as cost, time, complexity of the issue, and the experience of the arbitrators. These points also, of course, have a bearing upon whether one chooses to arbitrate in the first place or whether litigation would be a more suitable route. Various factors in making these decisions are discussed in detail by the authors in this volume, and much valuable guidance is given to those involved in the arbitration process.