Due to the economic globalization and integration, foreign trading business with China is becoming more frequent. Foreign investors are increasing investment proportion in diversified industries, but one other natural result is the quality disputes happens in some international trading businesses. The quality dispute in foreign trade is one common issue, which might be solved effectively via reasonable ways. This article will combine some common quality disputes involved in foreign trade, and provide some preventive solution methods, so as to reduce the probability of quality disputes and to promote friendly and cooperative relations of both sides.

(1) Common quality disputes involved in international trade
1.How to do quality testing for products that might have various quality problems in one batch?

Quality dispute means that both parities hold different views on the product quality involved in the contract. Usually, either or both parties shall entrust an inspection institution to detect the product, in order to decide whether the products meet the quality requirements. However, if there are various quality problems existing in each product in one order, how shall they be detected? Take the automobile for example, some cars are oil leakage, some have poor brakes, and some are very noisy while not a single car might represent all the quality problems. For such different problems, shall the inspection institution provide all the testing reports of each car, or only test part of them? If every car shall be inspected, then some cars are not qualified, some just needs maintenance, and some with little flaws still belong to qualified products, 1then how to solve the quality problems? Can the buyer preserve the right to pursue legal actions against the seller for breaching of contract?

2. Shall the quality inspection report, issued by the third party inspection agency, be binding if the buyer has partly fixed or maintained the products

In practice, the buyer sometimes may fix, maintain the product for their urgent business demands, and then claim the product quality problems to the seller. Specific to such circumstance, shall the quality inspection report, issued by the third party inspection agency, be binding to the seller is controversial. Since there may also produce quality problems due to improper repair or maintenance, so the testing institutions are difficult to determine which party is responsible for the product quality problems, so even if the test report proves the products are unqualified, it still cannot solve the quality disputes efficiently.

3. Quality testing standards and inspection institutions

In international trade, the sellers and buyers are always in different countries or reigns, and each country has its own independent laws, regulations and quality standards, so which standard shall be adopted once the quality problems occur might be difficult to decide. If both sides agree to solve the problem via litigation or arbitration, can the arbitration commission or court accepts the testing results detected according to other country's standard? Similarly, determining the inspection institution also exist such problems.

Therefore, only depending on the testing report issued by testing institutions cannot completely solve the quality disputes in international trade.

(2) Preventive solution methods
1. Stipulate the inspection standard, testing method, inspection responsibility and validity in the contract.

Both buyers and sellers shall agree and explicitly stipulate the quality standard, testing standard, inspection standard, inspection responsibility and validity in the contract. For example, both sides can regulate that the product quality shall comply the standard regulated in the country both sides located. Inspection method can be regulated as random sampling check, examine one by one and so on. As for inspection standard, the contract can stipulate the percentage of pass and percentage of defective. The contract shall also determine the inspection responsibilities, guaranteed liabilities, and a fixed testing period: the products will be regarded as qualified if no quality complaint is raised within this period. With these definite clauses about the product quality, the contract can help buyers and sellers to determine the responsibilities of both sides, so as to solve the problems efficiently and reduce the disputes.

2.Quality standard subject to the sealed samples of the third party

At present, the prevailing solution to quality problems in international trade is that both sides agree to submit the sample to a third party, once the quality dispute comes about, the quality standard shall subject to the sealed samples of the third party. However, Chinese law also stipulates "Where the buyer to a sales transaction based upon the sample does not know that the sample has a hidden defect, even if the object delivered is the same as the sample, the object delivered by the seller shall still meet the normal standards of the kind."2Therefore, sales by sample still need sample quality specifications besides the sealed sample. Both sides can determine sealed samples and inspection institutions through consulting with professional business consulting institutions.

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1.The vehicle testing results are divided into qualified, qualified (need maintenance), and not qualified.
2.Refer to Article 169 of Contract Law of the People's Republic of China.