Overview on the Sphere of Application of the 1980 UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
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Description
As can easily be evinced from the title of this short paper, it focuses merely on the provisions dealing with the sphere of application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. It will therefore merely examine those provisions that determine whether a contract is subject to the CISG at all. Those provisions, such as Articles 4 and 5, that determine to what extent contracts are dealt with by the Convention, will not be examined. Before examining more closely those provisions that this paper deals with, it may be appropriate to put the CISG into its historical context. The need to create an internationally uniform discipline for cases linked to more than one country designed to transcend national borders in order to maximise the utilisation of resources and to create certainty was recognised as early as in the 1920s, when it was suggested by Ernst Rabel to start with the work of unifying the law of international sales of goods. Upon this suggestion, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, UNIDROIT, decided to undertake extensive studies in this field which led, in 1935, to the first draft of a uniform law on the international sale of goods. After World War II, which had interrupted the aforementioned efforts, work resumed with a conference at The Hague in 1951. Thereafter, other drafts followed, the last of which was discussed at the Diplomatic Conference held at the Hague in April 1964. The twenty-eight participating States approved two conventions, annexed to which were the Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods (hereinafter: ULIS) and the Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (hereinafter: ULF). These laws were not as successful as expected; indeed, they came into force only in nine Countries. This led the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, UNCITRAL, which was formed in 1966 with the task of promoting the progressive harmonisation and unification of the law of international trade, to attempt the revision of the Hague Uniform Laws. But when it became apparent that a revision would not be successful without substantial modifications, a Working Group was established with the task of drafting a new text. Several drafts were proposed, the last of which - dating back to 1978—was the one upon which the General Assembly of the United Nations authorised the convening of a diplomatic conference, held from March 10 to April 11, 1980 in Vienna. On that occasion, the convention, which is officially known as the “United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods”, was approved. It entered into force on January 1st, 1988.
Source Publication
Law and Practice of Export Trade
Source Editors/Authors
Center for Transnational Law
Publication Date
2001
Recommended Citation
Ferrari, Franco, "Overview on the Sphere of Application of the 1980 UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods" (2001). Faculty Chapters. 599.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/599
