Uniformity in the Application of CISG Provisions

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: Problems facing cross-border transactions and possible solutions: The main prerogative for the international trader is to implement the business transaction as conveniently and quickly as possible. Besides choosing reliable business partners, a governing body of law that facilitates the transaction successfully is required. International business transactions are rarely conducted under a tailor-made law and are therefore dependent on the law that governs the transaction in terms of the rules of private international law. Determining the applicable law of the contract is one of the major problems facing a cross-border transaction. One way in which this question can be addressed is by means of the rules of private international law. Yet, these rules are rather complex and often subject to uncertainties. Even unification of the rules of private international law is unlikely to serve the needs of modern international business. If the proper law is determined, at least one of the parties to the transaction will be faced with an unknown body of rules. This party is forced to act in alien surroundings under a law with which it is unfamiliar. An alternative, is to unify law on the domestic level. This would avoid the difficulties in applying the rules of international private law. However, to harmonise domestic law on world wide basis is a matter of impossibility. Some divergences based on settled legal traditions are irreconcilable. Furthermore, there is the obstacle that a harmonised law may affect the concepts of another area of law. For example the issue of sales law affects the issue of transfer of property – an area of law with fundamentally varying concepts. The adoption of uniform sales law at the international level represents a third approach. These rules only apply to a particular range of sales transactions and therefore do not compel a State to abandon all of its own legal traditions. The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods has established a uniform international law of this character. The overall goal of the CISG is to harmonise domestic laws for international sales transactions. A precondition for this goal is the achievement of uniformity. The achievement of uniformity comprises a two-fold process. The mere adoption of the Convention is the first step towards the ultimate aim of achieving the broadest degree of uniformity in the law of international sales. The second step is the [...]