National Laws and International Commerce: The Problem of Extraterritoriality

This Chatham House Paper, first published in 1982, examines the problem of extraterritoriality. A wide range of economic activity is subject to the laws of more than one state, yet there is little provision for resolving situations where states impose contradictory requirements. This paper is particularly concerned with four areas of difficulty: extraterritorial anti-trust enforcement; overlapping regulatory claims; economic regulation for political aims; and different approaches to adjudication.