This book, both in terms of content and functionality, needs to be considered jointly with another work by the same author The Law of Virtual Legal Relations: Electronic Commerce, published by Narodne novine (Official Gazette) in 2012, yet in terms of the topic it is simultaneously also an independent piece of work. One might say that the two previously mentioned books present the system of laws on electronic commerce in the Republic of Croatia. When considered independently or partially, the book entitled Global Unification of E-Commerce Law is a legislative and doctrinally analytical comparative presentation of the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts as a sequel of United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (The Vienna Convention) and an elaboration and doctrinal presentation of the basics of artificial intelligence – electronic agent as a means of entering contracts, from the perspective of both the Croatian law and the law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In that manner it partially provides a basic framework of electronic commerce in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Electronic commerce law as a part of private law, as its specificum, normally develops in an opposite manner compared with the traditional branches of law in this domain in all the countries. In fact, the adoption of the sources and soft law regulation of that law occurred at the international level, which was followed by national codifications, to a greater or a lesser extent. Hence, that law is international in terms of its original sources. It is equally about the law of the relationships that regulate technological processes that originated in the 1990’s and are still developing. These processes are hence devoid of specific national features because they were appearing practically simultaneously throughout the world and in an identical form. Consequently, that law is directly fully depoliticised and it originates from the development of electronic technologies of communication and recording. It is hence also in itself a consequence of globalisation, while national codifications were expectedly supposed to accept the common standards of that law. Nevertheless, national codifications also provide what is necessary, the national note in an activity that will not stand any boundaries and for which the boundaries are actually considered as obstacles to its development. Therefore, both the national and the global in that branch of law need to establish a specific relationship in which traditional concepts will be respected, yet global processes and the globality of technology will simultaneously also be taken into consideration. During the creation of this balance the employer has a special responsibility because in a case of excessive preponderance of the national approach that diverges from the global, it can mean only exclusion of that segment of private law of that country from the general use in globalised commercial processes, as well as the creation of a principle of dualism for both national and international legal affairs, which in principle leads to isolation, as in that case the law becomes an obstacle to international trade and relations, which it is not supposed to be. Consequently, the law needs to be understood also as an elementary basis of the safety of trading, development of international relations, as an integral part of the total production and intellectual infrastructure of a specific society or state.

Considering the fact that electronic communication has become the dominant type of communication since the beginning of this century, the significance of regulation of this area as electronic commerce has seen a significant increase. Hence, finally, convinced that this book will contribute to the development of electronic commerce law both in the Republic of Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I would like to express my gratitude to the publishers for giving it the opportunity to see the light of day and face the critical judgement of (legal) public of both countries and perhaps even beyond. Finally, last but not the least, I would like to thank the professor Miroslav Džidić, Ph.D., for all his help, advice, instructions and criticism during the preparation of this work, which has probably made it at least slightly better…