Principles of Contract Law in Litigation Cases Complicated by Counterparties’ Use of Digital Technology (Dutch Experience)

Increasingly, there are legal disputes that cannot be directly resolved by the current legislation, as it has not kept pace with the development of digital technologies. In such a situation, it is useful to turn to foreign experience. Transposition of new foreign cases to the Russian reality allows predicting the development of business practice and future solutions for similar problems. The purpose of the study is to analyse the decisions of the courts of the Netherlands, in which the principles of contract law are applied to disputes about digital products. The provisions that Dutch courts derive from the principles of freedom of contract and good faith are formulated, and the mechanisms of protection of the weaker party to the contract are disclosed. On this basis, conclusions are drawn which, mutatis mutandis, can be applied in Russia. The thesis is substantiated that in the conditions of digitalisation the categories of contract law are not abandoned, but there is a need for their specific interpretation, taking into account all the circumstances of the case.