What is ‘CSIG?

- Definition

o The United Nation Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of

Goods (CISG) has been identify as one of the most successful attempts for the
unification of a broad area of commercial law on an international level.

o By creating an even-handed and modern substantive law in which governs the

rights and obligations of parties to international sales contracts, the treaty aims
to reduce the number of obstacles to international trade, especially those which
are associated with the choice of law issues.

o Currently, the CISG has successfully cater to more than 70 Contracting States
which represent geographic, cultural and economic diversity in international
trading.

- Origin

The CISG can be seen as a project of the United Nations Commission on International Trade
Law (UNCITRAL), in which the early 1970s took the initiative to create successor to two
substantive international law treaties namely the Convention relating to a Uniform Law for
the International Sale of Goods (ULIS) and Convention relating to a Uniform Law on the
Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (ULF). Both these treaties were
created with the objective to create a Convention that is able to attract an increase amount of
participation in uniform international sales rules. The finalize text of the CISG was then
approved in six other official languages of the United Nations at the United Nations
Conference on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, held in 1980, in Vienna. The
CISG started to enter into force in eleven Contracting States first on 1 January 1988 and have
been steadily and continuously attracted a diverse group of adherents.

- Benefit of CSIG

1. The CISG lets you do business with clients from all over the world without having to
worry about local, internal legal parameters relevant to the business. It does this by creating a
standard set of rules which can be applied to a contract for services or a contract for products.
If a country has taken the step to ratified the CISG, then the rules by default is applicable
with any international contracts made within the said country.
2. Businesses will also benefit from the predictability in which comes with following the
CISG format. CISG lowers legal risks, promotes transparency, clarifies grey areas and
improves predictability when doing business globally. Moreover, business, regardless of their
sizes, is able to conduct business on a global scale without the need to worry about becoming
familiar with local, internal legal considerations.

Thus, it can be understood that CISG was created in order to eliminate some of the uncertainty and
to provide rules and regulations that the parties can choose to adhere to their commercial dealings.

Conclusion

Nowadays, the unification of business laws on an international degree is slowly

becoming more of an essential necessity instead of only a mere objective when it is due
regard is given to the immerse growth in the international business transactions with all the
parties being spread all around the world. As an example, on how enormous the increase in
the amount of international dealings, the amount of growth of foreign trade of Turkey has
increase significantly over the last decade from $137.5 million USD in 1923 to $11 billion
USD in 1980. This just proves that the world of business is a never slowing and is rapidly
growing. Thus, one might raise the question on whether the laws have been able to catch up
with that speed and internationalism.