Ch.14 The UNIDROIT Principles and the CISG

Subject(s):

Contract — Unidroit Principles and choice of law — UN Sales Convention and damages

This chapter examines the interplay between the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (UNIDROIT Principles). The UNIDROIT Principles are a valuable tool in the interpretation of the CISG and can serve as terms in a contract. The optimum use of these international instruments would be to include the UNIDROIT Principles as terms into a contract, and the CISG would be the substantive law supplementing the contract. However, this would be asking the near-impossible, as far too many legal advisors still prefer to take shelter in domestic laws than to utilize international uniform laws. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the UNIDROIT Principles are already used in arbitral proceedings to resolve substantive issues.