Part AOzco is a Sydney-incorporated company that invests A$3m in 2018 to established a joint venture company in Bangkok (owned in equal shares with a private Thai company),ThaiJVco, to produce and distribute home medical testing kits primarily for Thai, Australian and Japanese end-users. A month after the WHO declares the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Thai government orders ThaiJVco and some other producers to limit all kit supplies only to domestic users, declaring that this is essential for public health management of the pandemic.Ozco is unhappy as this reduces the joint venture’s profits considerably and some otherproducers (with closer connections to the government, such as State-Owned Enterprises) do not seem to be subjected to such restrictions.As set infections spread, in June 2020 the government announces that it plans to nationaliseThaiJVco to ramp up production of the kits and produce other medical supplies to address the pandemic. It offers to pay Ozco A$3m in compensation, but the latter voices discontent because by end-2019 an independent valuation of its investment was $5m. After fruitless negotiations, in August 2020 the government publically alleges that that Ozco bribed someofficials to facilitate establishment of the JV, which Ozco completely denies.Question A.1Advise OzCo about its best options and related procedural law and practice issues toresolve this dispute with the Thai government.

In September 2020, ThaiJVco’s exclusive distributor of the kitsin Japan, Jco incorporated inOsaka, notifies termination of the distributorship contract. As grounds for termination Jcopoints to the Thai corruption allegations, as well as non-delivery of the medical kits, resulting IN Jco becoming close to bankruptcy. After ThaiJVco counter-argues force majeure for nondelivered, in October 2020 Jco adds as another ground for termination that some of its ownbuyers (consumers of the kits) are reporting that they contain seriousdefects causing personalinjury and/or emotional distress. Jco also refuses to make payments for some kits delivered before the April 2020 export ban from Thailand, and threatens to seek the freezing of someThaiJVco funds held in Japanese bank accounts. The written distributorship contract states that “all related disputes must be resolved by mediation administered in Kyoto, then if necessary subject to arbitration administered inOsaka”.2QuestionA.2AdviseThaiJVco about its best options and related procedural law and practice issues to resolve this dispute with Jco.In November 2020, someThai consumers read news about the Japanese consumer complaints about defective kits sourced via Jco, and they start tocomplain to ThaiJVco about similar defects in some of their kits. A few file product liability claims in the Bangkok CivilCourt.Thailand’s main NGO, the Foundation for Consumers, starts hearing about and publicisingthese claims.

Discussion emerges across print and social media about a possible class action, and that news also reaches some smaller NGOs and other consumer groups in Japan.Question A.3Advise ThaiJVco about the risks and issues around disputeresolution processes forsuch consumer complaints in both Thailand and Japan.Part BCommon Facts forQuestions B.1, B.2 and B.3AusCoal is a company incorporated in Queensland and specializes in coal exploitation andexportation. It supplies coal to customers across the Asia-Pacific region. SingTech is acompany incorporated in Singapore and is famous for its special software to enhance the strength of steel which is mostly produced by burning coal.Because of the huge demand in coal and steel in China, early in 1995, AusCoal and Sing Tech established a joint venture, China Coal and Steel (CCS), incorporated in Shanghai China. CCS regularly buys coal from AusCoal and has an exclusive license to use the special software designed by Sing Tech. CCS made a huge investment to build warehouses close tothe Shanghai port because the Shanghai Municipal Government signed a long-term contractwith it, which authorized CCS to use the Shanghai port to import Australian coal freely from1995 to 2025. In return, the contract also required CCS to hire Chinese employees and license Get homework help here.