International Sale of Goods (CISG) and Related Transactions

UNCITRAL work on uniform sales law resulted in the conclusion of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (Vienna, 1980) (CISG), which, in addition to being a widely adopted treaty, also serves as the source of inspiration for many regional and national laws. The CISG, which deals with both contract formation and the obligations of the parties, carefully balances the interests of the buyer and seller, and provides a comprehensive set of remedies in case of non-performance. The CISG is complemented by the Convention on the Limitation Period in the International Sale of Goods dealing with a complex and critical area of sales law, which is subject to significantly different treatment in the various legal systems.

In 2020, UNCITRAL approved the publication of a Legal Guide to Uniform Instruments in the Area of International Commercial Contracts (with a focus on sales) jointly prepared with the Hague Conference on Private International Law and with UNIDROIT, which provides an overview of uniform contract law texts and illustrates their relationship.