The sources' hierarchy (the exam's list): Treaties and conventions — the binding layer: the WTO covered agreements (GATT 1994, GATS, TRIPS); the CISG (Vienna 1980); the New York Convention 1958; the transport conventions (Hague-Visby, Hamburg); Customary international law — the general principles carried into trade: good faith, pacta sunt servanda (LAW 303's foundations); Soft law and model laws — the UNCITRAL Model Law on arbitration; the UNIDROIT Principles; the model laws' domestication; The trade usages and standard terms — the lex mercatoria's revival: the Incoterms, the UCP 600, the standard form contracts (Unit 3), the industry practices — the business's own law; The international institutions' acts — the WTO's dispute settlement reports and decisions; the UNCTAD's codes and principles; the recommendations; National laws — the implementing layer: Nepal's Arbitration Act 2055, its customs and foreign exchange laws (Unit 7), the treaty-implementing legislation — and the private international law that picks the governing law when the treaties do not.
The map the sources serve (the course's architecture): Units 2-6 the private layer (terms, contracts, documents, sale, finance); Unit 7 the exchange-control bridge; Units 8-11 the public layer (the enterprises, the WTO, UNCTAD, the EU); Units 12-13 the disputes and their enforcement. Exam Focus Long questions: (i) The meaning and concept — the TWO LAYERS (private-public) with the course's map; (ii) The sources (the six, with examples of each — treaty, custom, soft law, usages, institutional acts, national law); (iii) The importance (certainty, discipline, development, unification, alignment). Short questions: lex mercatoria; comparative advantage; soft law; the Incoterms as source. Trick areas: (i) The Incoterms and UCP are NOT treaties — trade usages incorporated by contract (their force is contractual); (ii) The WTO agreements bind STATES, not companies — the private trader feels them through national law; (iii) Model laws bind no one until domesticated.