The Sphere of Applicability of the CISG

국제물품매매계약(國際物品賣買契約)에 관한 유엔협약(協約)'의 적용범위(適用範圍)

The CISG has been legislated for playing roles as uniform rules which govern international sale of goods. The job of getting unification of the diverse domestic legal systems required almost half century of work. In the process of making the Convention some rules resulted from compromises of nation's relevant interests. The Convention, however, promoted both the legal certainty and harmonization in international trade in that the uniform rules suggest the appropriate resolution to the legal problems in the course of concluding a contract as well as in remedies for breach of contract. This paper focuses systematically on the scope of applicability of the CISG. The Convention deals with contracts for the international sale of goods. However, it does not apply to all kinds of the international sale of goods. The CISG confines the sphere of applicability to a certain type of sales. First of all, the CISG is limited to those contracts having been concluded between a particular group of persons, which is called a personal aspect of applicability. Secondly, the CISG covers a specific category of sales, which is called a material aspect of applicability. Thirdly, the CISG are concluded within a particular period of time, which is called a temporal aspect of applicability. Lastly, the CISG is limited to contracts falling within a given territorial sphere, which is called a territorial aspect of applicability.