The rationale behind the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is that a uniform sales law will lead to improved efficiency of cross-border sales and promote international trade. However, although it continues to attract new Member States and now applies to more than 80% of global trade, commercial parties often exclude the CISG, questioning it as a desirable choice of law.

This thorough and detailed Research Handbook explores the complexity of governance of sales contracts in the modern world. It examines many topical aspects of sales law and practice, with considerable emphasis being placed on the diversity of: commercial and transactional contexts; in which sales contracts are made and performed, including digital technologies, long-term contracts and global supply chains and sources governing such contracts, particularly those emanating from commercial players, such as standard form contracts, trade usages and trade terms. Written by leading experts from an international and comparative perspective, the Research Handbook is relevant to anyone with an interest in commercial sales and contract law.

This book brings together the top international sales law scholars from twenty-three countries to review the Convention on Contracts for International Sale of Goods (CISG) and its role in the unification of global sales law. It reviews the substance of CISG rules and analyzes alternative interpretations. A comparative analysis is given of how countries have accepted, interpreted, and applied the CISG. Theoretical insights are offered into the problems of uniform laws, the CISG's role in bridging the gap between the common and civil legal traditions, and the debate over good faith in CISG jurisprudence. The book reviews case law relating to the interpretation and application of the provisions of the CISG; analyzes how it has been recognized and implemented by national courts and arbitral tribunals; offers insights into problems of uniformity of application of an international sales convention; compares the CISG with the English Sale of Goods Act and places it in the context of other texts of UNCITRAL; and analyzes the CISG from the practitioner's perspective.

More than ninety countries are now parties to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) recognised as the pre-eminent legislative achievement aimed at harmonising commercial law on a global scale but uniformity in the treaty’s application remains unsettled and controversial. This book, in addition to offering a detailed assessment of tools designed to promote such uniformity, draws on issues raised during over thirty years of case law from all over the world and from other CISG-related materials to clearly delineate a path to more uniform application. The practical implications to be found in this book emerge from deeply informed discussion of such issues and topics as the following: causes of non-uniformity, whether based on overall scope or on particular CISG provisions; detrimental effect of non-uniformity on both the legal and economic benefits provided by the CISG; effectiveness of implemented tools to combat non-uniform application; problems arising from trading imbalances between developed and developing countries; and proposed efforts to promote uniform application. Drawing on its many sources, the analysis concludes with recommendations and observations about how to improve the organisation and mode of operation of existing and proposed tools. Legal practitioners, judges and arbitrators called upon to argue under or apply the CISG, as well as all those with an interest in international commercial law, will greatly appreciate the book’s incisive guidance in navigating the issue of uniformity in the application of the treaty. By extension, as a comparative analysis, the book will be of informative value for jurists and policymakers interested in what can be done to heighten the level of uniformity in the application of any international convention.

In this volume, the Study Group and the Acquis Group present the first academic Draft of a Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). The Draft is based in part on a revised version of the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) and contains Principles, Definitions and Model Rules of European Private Law in an interim outline edition. It covers the books on contracts and other juridical acts, obligations and corresponding rights, certain specific contracts, and non-contractual obligations. One purpose of the text is to provide material for a possible "political" Common Frame of Reference (CFR) which was called for by the European Commission's Action Plan on a More Coherent European Contract Law of January 2003.