The adoption of the CISG in Portugal: benefits and perspectives

Luca G. Castellani

Keywords

CISG; international sale of goods; UNCITRAL; European Union; Common European Sales Law; Portuguese-speaking countries

Abstract

The CISG represents a success story of uniform law, having been adopted by 80 States representing more than 80% of global trade. The CISG offers as well a major restatement of modern contract law and has been used as a model for regional and national contract law reform in various parts of the world.

The CISG brings immediate benefits to traders in terms of efficiency of the legislative framework, which is specifically designed for long-distance transactions, predictability of applicable law and ease of choice of law. In light of these benefits, the vast majority of European Union member States, as well as most other European States and almost all major trading States, have already adopted this text as a common law for the international sale of goods. Portugal should seriously consider its adoption to assist its businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.

Positive consequences of the adoption of the CISG include the ability to join more actively the academic debate on contract law reform. Moreover, the accession of Portugal would give further momentum to the interest for the CISG in Portuguese-speaking countries already evidenced by Brazil’s adoption of that text.

Table of contents

1. Introduction.
2. Benefits arising from the adoption of the CISG.
3. The CISG and the development of modern contract law.
4. The contribution of the CISG to the establishment of a common European market.
5. After the accession: capacity building and further strengthening.
6. Conclusions.
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