论抵消权法律风险及其防范措施

On the Legal Risks of Offset Right and Its Prevention

国际保理业务的核心法律问题是债权(应收账款)转让。在债权转让中,债务人可能对受让人提出抵消权抗辩。虽然世界各国都明确规定了抵消权,但是其具体规则还是有所区别的,有的对抵消权限制严格,有的则相对宽松。无论如何,债务人(进口商)得以法定抵消权或者合意抵消权来对抗受让人(保理商)的应收账款请求权。抵消权的存在使保理商面临较大的法律风险,世界各国国内法之间、国际规则之间以及国内法与国际规则之间的较大差异则更增加了法律风险的复杂性。为降低抵消权法律风险,保理商可以采取的相关防范措施主要有:在出口保理协议中,保理商要求供应商(出口商)承诺和保证,在供应商和债务人(进口商)之间不存在能够引起债务人提出抵消抗辩的任何事由;协议安排债务人放弃对保理商的抵消权抗辩。

The core legal issues of international factoring business is debt （ accounts receivable） assignment. The obligor may claim the right of offset against the assignee in the assignment of debt. The countries around the world provide the right of offset in their laws, but the specific rules in different countries are different, some rules set strict restrictions on the application of the right of offset, while others are relatively loose. In any case, the obligor （importer） can claim against the assignee（factor） by a statutory offset rights or consensual rights of offset. The existence of right of offset bring forth much legal risk to the international factors, and the fact that there are large differences among the different domestic laws as well as international rules increases the complexity of the legal risks. The international factors can take preventive measures as follows ： in export factoring agreement, the factors requires the suppliers （exporters） guarantee there is no excuse between the supplier and the obligor （importer）that can cause the obligor to claim the right of offset against the factor; there is an arrangements that the obligor ensure to give up the claim of offset against the factor.