INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS

International sales is one of the major transactions in international trade, that overcomes legal barriers between states through the application of uniform rules and consequently offers legal certainty to the business and legal operators.

The uniform law for International Sales 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 and has currently been ratified by 97 States. Rwanda and Saudi Arabia are the latest States that have adopted CISG.

The OHADA Uniform Act on General Commercial Law, which entails Commercial Sale provisions (Book VIII), adopted in 2010, represents another fundamental uniform law for International Sales. It is directly applicable in 17 member states of West & Central Africa «OHADA States» five of which have also ratified CISG and is largely inspired by the CISG.

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 on the main practical problems relating to the performance of the contract for international sale. The commission also constantly discuss similitudes and differences between CISG and OHADA law. During the UIA 2022 Congress in Dakar the Commission held a very passionate debate on the topic Delivery obligations within CISG and under the OHADA Uniform Act relating to general commercial law. As a follow-up of the Dakar Congress the International Sale of Goods Commission and the Transport Law Commission have published a UIA LexisNexis Book on International Commercial Sales: challenges in delivery, transport risks and documentary fraud.

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 agreements 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.

The Commission has a LinkedIn group https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8942738/. We invite you to join the group and keep the discussion active and lively. You can discuss anything related to international sales, share articles, experiences and events. Feel free to contribute in French, Spanish and English and to invite relations from your network.