International sale of goods
International sales contracts - unification and divergencies
In the area of international sales contracts, in one of the most important types of international commercial relations, the interests of business requires an international unified law for the promotion of international trade.
The advantage of unified law is that it avoids the hazards of applying private international law and foreign substantive law on different national forums, and therefore reduces the legal risk of international businesses, thereby providing a greater level of certainty to businessmen. Unified law promotes greater legal predictability and security. The uniform law, in its current form, was established by the UN Convention on Contracts for International Sale of Goods (CISG), signed in 1980. The success of the CISG can be measured both by the large number of Contracting States (including almost all major states in international trade) and the large number of cases decided by courts and arbitral tribunals under the CISG.
The CISG came into effect in 1988, today 74 states have ratified it and will in time be subscribed to by over 100 countries.
Work of the UIA International Sale of Goods Commission
The Commission examines primarily the achievements in the unification of international sales law, the application of the uniform rules by national courts and international commercial arbitrations, focusing the main practical problems relating to the performance of the contract for international sale. Further, as unification does not cover all aspects of sales contracts (i.e. validity or 'property' issues), the Commission analyses the sales law provisions of different national legal systems as well ("Issues not Covered by the CISG"), discovering both common and divergent points. In addition to international sale, the Commission examines different aspects of international distribution agreement as one of the most frequent transactions in international commerce today.
Besides the CISG, other documents of uniform contract law even those with a broader scope of application than the international sales contracts, UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and Principles of European Contract Law (PECL), are discussed at the Commission's sessions. In addition, OHADA law is also regularly on the agenda. The debates have always been and will certainly be passionate.
At each annual congress, the Commission organizes a half-day session on current developments in international sales and distribution of goods. In 2009, in Sevilla, the title of the session was “International Sale of Goods: The Implementation of Common Rules challenged by the diversity of legal systems”. In 2010, in Istanbul, the general theme of the session will be “How to Minimize the Risks in Contract for International Sale”.
In addition, the Commission organizes seminars, sometimes in cooperation with UIA’s other commission (in particular with the Contract Law Commission). Recent seminars organized were “Current developments in international sales and distribution of goods (the CISG in practice)” (Warsaw, 2006), and “How to deal with the International Sale and Distribution of Goods special attention will be paid to the so called “BRIC” countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China)” (Valencia, 2009).
The important news is that in future the Commission plans to organize two additional types of events: (1) educational seminars, i.e. practice oriented and practice building events, with the purpose to deepen and strengthen the basic knowledge of CISG and to share practical experiences from all around the world, and (2) round tables, which would be opportunities for in-depth analysis and discussions of selected issues, conducted by a group of highly qualified CISG-lawyers in our Commission.
Ideally the works of the round tables could be from time to time shared with, or communicated to, leading instances in the field of CISG, such as UNCITRAL, Pace University/Clout, the CISG Advisory Council, etc., in the form of reports, conclusions or recommendations.
The Commission further cooperates with national bar associations in organizing 'road shows' to present the CISG, such as those held in Belgrade (2008), and in Skopje (2009).
Officers and members of the Commission
President: Prof. Dr. Jelena PEROVIC, Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Vice-President: Martin WIEBECKE (Anwaltsbüro Wiebecke), Zürich, Switzerland
Second Vice-President: Marie-Christine CIMADEVILLA (Cabinet Cimadevilla), Paris, France
Third Vice-President: Prof. dr. Jean-Paul VULLIÉTY (Lalive & Associés), Geneva, Switzerland
Secretary: Lynne OSTFELD (Law Office of Lynne R. Ostfeld), Chicago, U.S.A
Web Director: Dr. Gusztav BACHER (Szecskay Attorneys at Law), Budapest, Hungary
The Commission has always had the very valuable and professional support of Prof. Dr. Burghard PILTZ (Brandi Dröge Piltz Suderow & Gronemeyer), Gütersloh, Germany, who is also a Président d'honneur of the Commission and Prof. Dr. Fabio Bortolotti (Buffa Bortolotti & Mathis), Turin, Italy.
