Understanding the CISG

The 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) regulates the rights of buyers and sellers in international sales. The Convention is the first sales law treaty to win acceptance on a worldwide scale, and the impressive list of some 85 CISG ‘Contracting States’ already accounts for more than three-fourths of all world trade. The importance of the CISG in the international arena is underlined by thousands of reported decisions where the CISG has been held to apply, thus evidencing the conduct of countless international traders who – by default or by express choice – regularly subject their sales contracts to the Convention. The CISG has also impacted on sales legislation at national and regional (e.g., EU) levels.

The CISG treaty demands an international interpretation, and this fully updated Fifth (Worldwide) Edition draws upon the full range of primary as well as secondary sources of CISG law, including worldwide case law and scholarly opinion. Concrete examples are provided throughout.

With this book as their guide, lawyers and students who need to understand international sales contracts and sales contract disputes will confidently navigate topic areas such as the following:

• determining when the CISG applies;

• freedom of contract under Article 6;

• interpretation of the Convention and of CISG contracts;

• sales contract formation, validity, defenses to enforcement;

• obligations of the parties, including conforming delivery and payment;

• remedies for breach, including specific performance, damages and avoidance;

• liability exemptions; and

• key reservations under Articles 92–96.

Co-published by Wolters Kluwer.