The present publication of re ports and discussions sterns from the fourth Session of the Hague-Zagreb Colloquium, held at Eernewoude, in the Netherlands. The preceding three Sessions were held at Stubice Toplice, in Yugoslavia (1974), Zeist, in the Netherlands (1976) and, again in Yugoslavia, at Opatija (1978). The fourth Session was originally planned for May 1980. On the eve of the meeting, the then President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the late Marshall J .B. Tito, passed away. On hearing the news of the Marshall's death, the Organizing Committee of the Hague-Zagreb Colloquium immediately decided that the Session should not then be held. The postponement lasted, in fact, a whole year: the fourth Session was convened at Eernewoude in May 1981. For the Eernewoude Session the formula that had produced such excellent results in the previous conferences was maintained. Four topics of international trade law were thoroughly discussed on the basis of reports submitted by scholars from the various legal systems represented at the conference. Apart from the Yugoslav and Dutch participants, scholars from the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium and Norway took part in the discussions, be it in the capacity of reporter, of chairman or as expert in the field covered by the Colloquium: the law of international trade. A student competition had again been organised and the members of the win- ning teams from Yugoslavia and from the Netherlands were among the participants.