Part IV International Business Law, XXIV International Sales and Contract Law

Subject(s):

International investment law — International monetary law — Goods — UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules

This chapter covers the frameworks and legal instruments surrounding international sales and contracts. In the interest of maintaining uniformity in international trade laws, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966. In addition, the most prominent uniform framework for international business relations is the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) of 1980, which the chapter discusses in more depth in the third section. After a brief introduction into the rest of the instruments assisting in the harmonization of international trade law, the chapter turns to laws applicable to contractual obligations. The final section concerns transactions made on the basis of communications through electronic systems such as the Internet (‘e-commerce’), which have become a common feature in international business relations.