为促进资金融通和商品流通，保护债权人的合法利益，担保在商事交往中被广泛使用。按照我国目前的担保法律规定，担保方式类型主要为保证、抵押、质押、留置、定金五种。此外，在实践中也广泛的存在着非典型担保方式，非典型担保对于完善担保的手段，维护权利人的权益发挥着重要的作用。而随着国际贸易的发展，交易额越来越大，交易各方在项目中的投资越来越多，因而风险也随之显著增加。为了避免和减轻不履约或者是履约不当的风险，保障交易安全，保障各项义务的顺利进行，担保就成了相关当事人的必然选择。涉外担保中的潜在风险较之国内担保而言更值得注意，比如在有些案件中，申请人由于未尽到核实担保人的主体资格或者签章的真实性，导致债务得不得担保，从而面临巨大风险。笔者在本文中将结合国际经济往来的实践模式，依据相关法律规定，对涉外担保的一些常见问题作出阐述，以使读者有所裨益。

In order to promote capital circulation and commodity circulation, protect the legitimate interests of creditors, guarantee is widely used in commercial exchanges. According to the present guarantee law in our country, there are mainly five types of guarantee ways，namely suretyship , mortgage, pledge, lien and deposit. In addition, there are extensive atypical guarantee methods in practice. Atypical guarantee plays an important role in perfecting guarantee means and safeguarding the rights and interests of right holders. With the development of international trade, the transaction volume is getting larger and larger and the investment of all parties in the project is increasing, so the risk also increases significantly. In order to avoid and reduce the risk of non-performance or improper performance, to ensure the safety of transactions and the smooth progress of various obligations, guarantee has become the inevitable choice of the relevant parties. The potential risks in foreign-related guarantees are more noteworthy than those in domestic guarantees. For example, in some cases, the applicant fails to verify the principal qualification of the guarantor or the authenticity of the signature and seal, resulting in the debt not being guaranteed and facing huge risks. In this paper, the author will combine with the practice of international economic exchanges, according to the relevant laws and regulations, to explain some common problems of foreign-related guarantees, so as to make readers benefit.

1.涉外担保的当事人未对适用法律进行约定时的法律适用问题。

对于涉外法律关系的法律适用问题，无论当事人是否有约定，依照《涉外民事关系法律适用法》的规定，中华人民共和国法律对涉外民事关系有强制性规定的，直接适用该强制性规定，目前我国应当定性为强制性规定的主要有涉及劳动者权益保护的；涉及食品或公共卫生安全的；涉及环境安全的；涉及外汇管制等金融安全的；涉及反垄断、反倾销的。在上述规定情形下，视为涉及我国的社会公共利益，当事人无权约定适用的法律。另外一种当事人无权约定适用法律的情形是，在我国法律明确规定适用我国法律的情形下，如我国法律规定的在我国领域内履行的中外合资经营企业合同、中外合作经营企业合同、中外合作勘探开发自然资源合同。

1. The application of law when the parties to foreign-related security do not agree on the applicable law.

With respect to the applicable law of foreign-related legal relationship, whether the parties have agreed, in accordance with the provisions of the foreign-related civil relationship between law applicable law, the laws of the People's Republic of China has the mandatory provisions on foreign-related civil relations, the mandatory provisions shall be applicable to the direct, at present such provisions are mainly relating to the protection of the rights and interests of workers; Involving food or public health safety; Involving environmental safety; Involving financial security such as foreign exchange control; Involving anti-monopoly and anti-dumping. In the case of the above provisions, it is deemed to involve the social and public interests ofChina, and the parties have no right to prescribe applicable laws. The other case where the parties have no right to agree on the application of law is that China's law clearly stipulates the application of China's law, such as sino-foreign equity joint venture contract performed in China's field as stipulated by Chinese law, sino-foreign cooperative enterprise contract, sino-foreign cooperative exploration and development of natural resources contract.

在担保合同依照我国法律认定合法有效的情况下，依照我国法律的有关规定，对于国内经济主体对外担保时，由于保证行为发生在我国，因此在选择法律适用时，应当适用我国的法律。而对于涉外抵押的法律适用问题，由于不动产所在地在我国，应当适用我国法律。

In the case that the guarantee contract is legally valid according to Chinese law, according to the relevant provisions of Chinese law, when the domestic economic subject guarantees overseas, for the reason that the guarantee behavior occurs in our country, so when selecting the application of law, the law of our country shall be applied. As for the legal application of foreign-related mortgage, as the real estate is located inChina,China's laws should be applied.

2.当事人应当注意担保人的条件，即担保人是否具有相关资格。

在国际担保交易中，担保人是否具有法律规定所要求的担保资格通常是确定担保效力的一个关键因素，因此往往会成为当事人之间争议的焦点。由于在这个问题上与争议问题有关联的不同国家和地区的法律规定有所不同，而且不同当事人有时会主张使用对其比较有利的法律，因此法院如果适用不同法域的法律规定就可能做出不同的判决，这样就容易形成法律冲突。比如，在我国港澳台地区，除了法律上不具备行为能力的人之外，均允许第三人充当保证人。而中国《担保法》第八条却规定：“国家机关不得为保证人，但经国务院批准为使用外国政府或者国际经济组织贷款进行转贷的除外。”此时，对于国家机关是否能作为担保人就产生了法律冲突。因此，在订立合同时，应当根据合同使用的法律对担保主体进行仔细审查。

2. The parties shall pay attention to the conditions of the guarantor, namely, whether the guarantor has relevant qualifications.

In the international security transaction, whether the guarantor has the security qualification required by law is usually a key factor to determine the effectiveness of the security, so it often becomes the focus of disputes between the parties. Since the legal provisions of different countries and regions related to the disputed issue are different, and different parties will sometimes advocate the use of the law that is more favorable to them, the court may make different decisions if applying the legal provisions of different jurisdictions, which is easy to form legal conflicts. For example, in the Hong Kong, Macao andTaiwanregions ofChina, all the third parties are allowed to act as guarantors except those who are legally incapable. However, article 8 ofChina's guarantee law stipulates that "state organs shall not be guarantors, except for those who, with the approval of the state council, transact loans for the use of loans from foreign governments or international economic organizations." At this time, there is a legal conflict as to whether the state organ can act as the guarantor or not. Therefore, when concluding the contract, the guarantee subject should be carefully examined according to the law used in the contract.

3.当事人必须考量担保是否履行了审批或登记手续。

不同国家和地区关于对外担保是否需要国家有关政府部门批准或者登记才发生效力的规定有所不同，法院适用不同法域的法律规定有可能做出不同的判决，因此在这方面也可能形成法律冲突。比如，按照我国的规定，未经国家主管部门批准或者登记提供对外担保的，担保无效。但是很多不实行严格外汇管制制度的国家或地区则没有类似的规定，其中就包括我国的香港和澳门地区。因此在这个问题上适用不同的法律就可能导致判决结果的不同。

3. The parties must consider whether the guarantee has been approved or registered.

Different countries and regions have different provisions on whether external guarantee needs approval or registration from relevant government departments to become effective. The court may make different judgments according to the legal provisions of different jurisdictions, so legal conflicts may also be formed in this regard. For example, according to the provisions of our country, without the approval or registration of the competent department of the state to provide external guarantee, guarantee is invalid. However, many countries or regions that do not implement strict foreign exchange control system do not have similar provisions, including Hong Kong and Macao. Therefore, different laws applied to this issue may lead to different judgments.

4.当事人要明确担保责任形式。

在国际担保的司法实践中，担保人应当承担一般责任还是连带责任往往是当事人之间争议的焦点。在一些担保合同中，当事人通过约定的方法对担保人应当承担何种形式的担保责任予以明确，这样做可以有效地减少这方面的争议。但是在很多情况下，当事人没有在合同中对此进行约定，这时适用不同国家或地区的法律可能导致不同的裁判结果。根据德国、法国和日本等国法律的规定，在当事人没有相反约定的情况下，保证人需要承担一般保证责任而不是连带保证责任。而根据我国的有关规定，当事人对保证方式没有约定或约定不明的，则按照连带保证承担保证责任。因此，在担保合同中，应当明确担保的方式。

4. The parties shall specify the form of guarantee liability.

In the judicial practice of international guarantee, whether the guarantor should assume general liability or joint liability is always the focus of dispute between the parties. In some guarantee contracts, the parties make clear what kind of guarantee liability the guarantor should bear through the agreed method, which can effectively reduce the disputes in this aspect. However, in many cases, the parties have not stipulated this in the contract, and the application of laws in different countries or regions may lead to different results. According to the laws ofGermany,France,Japanand other countries, the guarantor shall assume the general guarantee liability instead of joint and several guarantee liability if the parties do not agree to the contrary. According to the relevant provisions of our country, if the parties have no agreement or unclear agreement on the mode of guaranty, they shall assume the guaranty liability in accordance with joint and several guaranty. Therefore, the mode of guaranty shall be clarified in the guaranty contract.

5.对保证期间的约定。

保证期间为保证责任的存续期间，事关保证人与债权人之间的债权债务能否行使或者履行，也是确保保证债务与诉讼时效关系的依据。在国际担保纠纷中，担保是否已经超过担保期间也经常成为当事人争议的焦点，因为即使在认定担保合同有效、担保责任的形式和范围已经明确的情况下，担保人也可以以超出担保期间为由拒绝承担担保责任。由于不同国家和地区的法律在这方面的规定不同，因此适用不同法域的法律规定可能导致不同的裁判结果。

5. Agreement on guaranty period.

The guaranty period is the duration of guaranty liability, which concerns whether the creditor's rights and debts between the guarantor and the creditor can be exercised or performed, and it is also the basis to ensure the relationship between guaranty debt and limitation of action. In international guarantee disputes, whether the guarantee has exceeded the guarantee period or not often becomes the focus of disputes between the parties, because even if the form and scope of guarantee liability of the guarantee contract validity have been defined, the guarantor can refuse to assume the guarantee liability on the ground of exceeding the guarantee period. As the laws of different countries and regions have different provisions in this regard, the application of legal provisions in different jurisdictions may lead to different adjudication results.

有些国家和地区的法律规定了法定保证期间，当事人在保证合同中可以约定保证期间，没有约定的，则适用法定保证期间。而有的国家和地区的法律不规定法定保证期间，比如英国和我国香港地区的法律就规定，当事人在保证合同中约定保证期间的，应当根据当事人的约定处理；当事人没有约定保证期间的情况下，则并不规定额外的保证期间。因此在涉外担保合同中应当明确约定担保的期间。

The laws of some countries and regions stipulate the legal guaranty period. The parties may agree on the guaranty period in the guaranty contract. If there is no agreement, the legal guaranty period shall apply. However, the laws of some countries and regions do not stipulate the legal guaranty period. For example, the laws of Britain and Hong Kong of China stipulate that if the parties agree on the guaranty period in the guaranty contract, it shall be handled according to the agreement of the parties. Where no guaranty period is agreed upon by the parties, no additional guaranty period is stipulated. Therefore, the guarantee period should be clearly stipulated in the foreign-related guarantee contract.