The remedies regime under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

Abstract

On January 1, 1988, The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (The Convention) which was adopted in 1980, became law in contracting States. The Convention is based on The Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (ULIF), and The Uniform Law on International Sale of Goods (ULIS). As of May 30, 1989, nineteen countries had ratified The Convention. The Convention is the most important uniform law ever achieved in the field of sales law and is overwhelmingly supported by legal communities worldwide. This study seeks to introduce the remedies regime provided in The Convention. It examines the ways in which each remedy works, and its true meaning as determined by its drafting history. The study is divided into ten chapters including an introduction and conclusion in Chapters I and X respectively. Each chapter, II-IX, deals with a particular remedy: The remedy of avoidance; the remedy of damages; the remedy of specific performance; the requirements for, and effects of, the doctrine of exemption from liability; the remedy of suspension of performance; the remedy of price reduction; the seller's right to cure; the duties imposed on a party to preserve goods from loss or deterioration. In order to consider the ability of a given remedy to meet the needs of international sales participants, a comparison between the rules under the ULIS and the rules under The Convention is essential. It will help in discovering what improvements, if any, were achieved. Reference has also been made to a number of domestic laws, particularly those of Egypt, England and France. This is instrumental in helping to understand The Convention's remedy provisions because (a) there have yet to be any decided cases under The Convention, (b) some of The Convention's remedies are still unfamiliar to many domestic legal systems, (c) the laws of England and France are adopted in one form or another in most countries of the world and (d) Egypt exercised and still continues to exercise a dominant role in the Arab World. Since this influence has not yet been examined by Western academics, the discussion of Egyptian law should demonstrate the importance of The Convention to the developing countries of the world. The central part of this study shows how solutions may be attained in international sales transactions when The Convention is the governing law. Further, it concludes that courts in contracting states will apply The Convention and that business enterprises in these countries will base their international sales transactions on it. The author advances the thesis that courts, lawyers and commentators should interpret The Convention as an autonomous sales law in the light of its general principles and drafting history with the aim of developing a uniform international jurisprudence. The study concludes that The Convention will be accepted by business communities in developing and developed, Western and Eastern European countries alike. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)