STUDY OF STRUCTURE, RELEVANCE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON CONTRACT FOR INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS, VIENNA

1. UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION
ON CONTRACTS FOR THE
INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS
(VIENNA, 1980)

2. INTRODUCTION
• The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the
International Sale of Goods - CISG is a treaty that is
a uniform international sales law.
• It has been ratified by 89 states, making it one of
the most successful international uniform laws.
• The State of Palestine is the most recent state to
ratify the Convention, having acceded to it on 29
December 2017.
• The Convention has been signed, but not ratified,
by Ghana and Venezuela

3. • The CISG was developed by the United Nations
Commission on International Trade Law -
UNCITRAL, and was signed in Vienna in 1980.
• The CISG is sometimes referred to as
the Vienna Convention.
• It came into force as a multilateral treaty on 1
January 1988, after being ratified by 11
countries.
• It has been described as a “great legislative
achievement”, and the “most successful
international document so far” in unified
international sales law.

4. RELEVANCE OF CISG
• The CISG is considered one of the core international
trade law conventions.
• The adoption of the CISG provides modern,
uniform legislation for the international sale of
goods.
• CISG may apply to a contract for international sale
of goods when the rules of private international law
point at the law of a Contracting State as the
applicable one; or
by virtue of the choice of the contractual parties,
regardless of whether their places of business are
located in a Contracting State.

5. STRUCTURE OF CISG

6. • Part I: Sphere of
Application and
General Provisions
(Articles 1–13)
• Part II:
Formation of the
Contract (Articles
14–24)
• Part III: Sale of
Goods (Articles
25–88)
• Part IV: Final
Provisions
(Articles 89–101)

7. PART I: Sphere of Application and
General Provisions (Articles 1–13)
• Article 1(1) (a) - The CISG applies to contracts
of the sale of goods between Contracting
States. when the conflict of law rules lead to
the application of the law of a Contracting State.
• It is also applicable, by virtue of choice of the
parties.
• The CISG is intended to apply to commercial
goods and products only.
• Parties to a contract may exclude or vary the
application of the CISG

8. Part II: Formation of the Contract
(Articles 14–24)
• Article-14-An offer to contract must be addressed
to a person, be sufficiently definite – that is,
describe the goods, quantity, and price – and
indicate an intention for the offeror to be bound on
acceptance
• Article-15,16-Offer may be revoked provided the
withdrawal reaches the offeree before or at the same
time as the offer, or before the offeree has sent an
acceptance
• Article-19- Any change to the original conditions is
a rejection of the offer—it is a counter-offer—unless
the modified terms do not materially alter the terms
of the offer.

9. Part III: Sale of Goods (Articles 25–88)
• Article 30 - CISG defines the duty of the seller,
‘stating the obvious’, as the seller must deliver the
goods, hand over any documents relating to them,
and transfer the property in the goods, as required
by the contract.
• Article 60,Article 53 - Similarly, the duty of the
buyer is to take all steps ‘which could reasonably be
expected’ to take delivery of the goods, and to pay
for them.
• Article 35 - The goods must be of the quality,
quantity, and description required by the contract,
be suitably packaged and fit for purpose. .

10. • Articles 41, 42 - The seller is obliged to deliver
goods that are not subject to claims from a third
party
• Articles 38, 39, 40 - The buyer is obliged to
promptly examine the goods and, subject to
some qualifications
• Articles 49,64,74-77- Remedies of the buyer
and seller depend upon the character of a breach
of the contract viz. Claim damages or avoid
contract.
• Article 79 - The CISG excuses a party from
liability in cases of force majeure

11. Part IV: Final Provisions
(Articles 89–101)
• Articles 89–101 include how and when the
Convention comes into force, permitted
reservations and declarations, and the
application of the Convention to international
sales.
• The Part IV Articles, along with the Preamble,
are sometime characterized as being addressed
‘primarily to States’, not to business people
attempting to use the Convention for
international trade.