Sales Convention

The United Nations Sales Convention is usually called the Vienna Convention or CISG, the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (1980) (유엔국제물품매매협약).

After many years of discussion, Korea ratified CISG in 2004, and CISG came into force as from March 1, 2005. Accordingly, CISG has become one of the most important private laws - next to the Civil Act and the Commercial Act.

As most of Korea's trading partners including the United States, China, and recently Japan are contracting states of CISG, this globally implemented Convention is getting more and more important as a governing law of agreements on international sale of goods.

The current status of the Convention shows the more than 70 states are adopting the CISG.

Key words
Sales Convention, CISG, international sale of goods, breach of contract

Significance of CISG in international trade
Now that Korea is one of the contracting states, CISG has some significance in the following respects:
 * CISG has become a uniform law governing international sale of goods;
 * More and more students and common people regard CISG as a familiar and well-known rule in international trades;
 * As CISG attracts interest of legal profession as well as legal education in Korea, increasing number of trading companies find themselves involved in CISG-governed transactions;
 * Korean government is positive to accept international norms than ever before; and
 * Korea's public officials as well as scholars are expected to participate actively in rule-making meetings of inter-governmental or non-governmental organizations.

Differences between CISG and Civil Act
Scholars and practioners point out the following subjects as an example of differences:
 * Commercial usage and practices
 * Formation of contracts
 * Place of delivery
 * Negligence in breach of contract
 * Transfer of risk
 * Avoidance of contracts
 * Predictability in determining the extent of damages

Case law in Korea
UNCITRAL updates regularly case law on CISG (CLOUT) at its Website.