European Sales Law and International Sales Law: Can They Coincide?

European Sales Law and International Sales Law: Can They Coincide?

Description

When asked to contribute to this volume with a chapter on a possible European Sales Law, the first thought which came into my mind related to what has recently been defined as ‘arguably the greatest legislative achievement aimed at harmonizing private commercial law,’ i.e., the Convention which is officially known as the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (hereinafter: CISG), the success of which is evidenced not only by the attention it has been drawing from legal scholars for the last 16 years, since its adoption in 1980 at the Vienna Diplomatic Conference, but also by the (still increasing) number of Contracting States: on a world-wide scale, the CISG has already been entered into force in close to fifty countries. On a European level, the CISG has come into force, as has recently been pointed out, in all but three member States of the EU (namely Belgium, Great Britain and Portugal). But also if one goes beyond the territorial limits of the EU, one will have to agree that the CISG is firmly rooted in Europe, since nearly 15 other European countries had entered it into force by the end of 1995, a list to which one must add Poland, where the CISG came into force on June 1st, 1996. From what has been said thus far, it becomes apparent that the CISG cannot be disregarded when examining the possibility of creating a European Sales Law. However, this article does not deal with the issue whether regard should at all be had to the CISG in creating a European Sales Law, but rather whether the CISG should be adopted as such Sales Law.

Source Publication

Towards a European Civil Code

Source Editors/Authors

Arthur Hartkamp, Martijn Hesselink, Ewoud Hondius, Carla Joustra, Edgar du Perron

Publication Date

1998

Edition

2 Revised, Expanded

European Sales Law and International Sales Law: Can They Coincide?

Find @ NYU

Share

COinS