The Adoption of the 1980 Convention on the International Sale of Goods by the United Kingdom

The adoption of the 1980 Convention on the International Sale of Goods by the United Kingdom

INTRODUCTION

It is undeniable that one of the obstacles that frustrate the development of international trade is the divergence of rules among legal systems. This gives rise to litigation and increases transaction costs for all parties. However, the tendency to unify the rules through international conventions is seen by some intellectuals and economists as a solution to eliminate this barrier while others find it harmful to domestic laws and does not achieve its whole objectives. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG)[1] is an example of this method of unification.

Although the CISG has been accepted by such a large number of countries, representing about two thirds of the total amount of international trade,[2] the UK has chosen to take a different approach. The United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry has issued two consultation papers (in 1989 and 1997) on the subject of the UK entering into the Convention,[3] no further formal steps have been taken to adopt the CISG in the UK. Based on the responses it received, the Department of Trade and Industry issued a position paper in February 1999 stating that the Convention should be brought into national law when there is time available in the legislative programme.[4] To date, no further steps have been taken to bring the CISG into English law.[5] Therefore, there has been lately much debate of whether the United Kingdom Government should ratify the United Nations Convention.

The purpose of this article is to examine some of the most remarkable features of the Convention that differ from English law and those, which are most likely to cause difficulties and uncertainty in the case that the Convention is ratified by the UK. In order to do so and to reach to the conclusion whether the UK should adopt the Convention, this article will briefly highlight the history of the...