International Sale of Goods, Dispute Resolution and Arbitration



International Sale of Goods, Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

Today's world can best be described as an increasingly volatile in terms of the advances in the communication and networking, in both national and individual capacities. Today, more and more geographical boundaries have increasingly blurred and it would be wrong to refer oneself as a global citizen. Similarly, over the past many decades Australia has become a strong trader and competitor in the international trading arena and it is the many laws and reforms that it has modified domestically that has allowed it become so. Hence, now Australia can be easily be termed as an open market for trading with the world. This strongly can be accredited to its modified laws and rules governing trade, without which Australia would not have grown its domestic and international market for goods in the global arena.

Q1. What is the legal regime that applies in South Australia and each foreign country for a contract involving the international sale of goods?

To begin with our discussion, it is only wise to fore mostly discuss in detail about Contract for International Sale of Goods (CISG) itself. Popularly identified as the Vienna Convention, CISG became effective on the 1st January 1988, in a Convention held by United Nations. Contract for International Sales of Goods is also referred by the name of Sales Convention as well. Germain explains that this contract specifically implies to the contract or agreement of trade between different business entities belonging from different countries, and thus this is the main governing principle concerning international trade between countries provided that they already have adopted this Convention. Furthermore, Germain notes that despite being a member of this convention, member countries may choose to drop out their membership or amend any of its provisions according to their preference, as the Freedom of Contract is the essential doctrine of CISG. Hence, it is strongly recommended to the legal advisors of any business to extensively review their client's case in light of this convention.

The International Trade Law Commission of the United Nations Commission terms the purpose of this convention to provide a uniform, modern and a just system for all the agreements pertaining to the international sale and trade of goods. Thus, it observes the role of functioning as a governing body that monitors all the trade that is carried out by its member countries. It is because of this feature that CISG is a highly preferred measure to be adopted by all the countries participating in the international trade. This Convention is the most beneficial for the small-to-medium businesses, especially those that are located in the small or underdeveloped countries. This is because such businesses may not be able to attain adequate legal counsel in their countries due to high costs involved. Hence, by adopting and referring to these set of rules will further make their contract dealings fairer. The set of rules comprising this convention is applicable to the sales of goods that ...