ABSTRACT
In 1980, the United Nations under the auspices of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), in a bid to harmonize and standardize international trade amongst sister nations promulgated a uniform law relating to international sale of goods. This uniform law was the Vienna Convention on International Sale of Goods (herein referred to as CISG or the Convention). Its main purpose was to govern and promote international trade between nations through removing inter-trade and legal barriers. The CISG represents one of the central pillars of uniform international commercial law and is a key achievement of the UNCITRAL. Despite the fact that the United Kingdom (UK) helped with its formation, it did not ratify the Convention at that time and still has not done so. The UK was one of the 64 governments that signed the CISG at Vienna in 1980 and participated fully in the deliberations leading up to the final text. Critical questions have been raised as to the UK’s wait and see approach towards the CISG compared to its trade partners like the United States, Australia and Japan who have ratified it. Is the UK better off without the CISG and does the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended, hereafter referred to as SGA) suffices UK’s international trade law requirements? Is the UK being unnecessarily hard-headed on a law it probably will conform to eventually? Furthermore, as a uniform law which purports to promote trade amongst cross-border parties, to what extent does the jurisprudence of the CISG provide legal certainty? And do parties to a contract opting for the CISG as the governing law for their contracts well-served in terms of rights and remedies? This paper answers some of these critical questions in not only seeking to advice the UK government whether or not to ratify the Convention, but to also critique the extent to which the Convention serves to satisfy some of its fundamental aims. The paper first gives an overview of the CISG, the UK’s current position on it, and then analyse obligations, rights and remedies of parties therein. It then provides the various debate for and against its ratification and makes suggestions to the UK on ratifying the Convention.
Abdul Nassir Mukhtar, Zein, 97 Contracting States, And Still Counting -The CISG and the United Kingdom’s Long Wait (April 20, 2025).
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