The article considers legal issues of the Hague Principles on the choice of law in international commercial contracts. The experience of approving the Hague Principles is unique in the long-term practice of the Hague Conference on Private International Law in connection with the fact that for the first time it approved an international instrument in the form of a set of advisory rules. Regulation of international commercial relations by the non-state instruments is frequently implemented nowadays. The article determines the criteria for the non-governmental instruments as the basis for their recognition as a control for cross-border relations.