CISG – Overview
Your company is in Canada, or the United States, and you’re buying or selling goods with a company from China. What rules apply to your transaction?
An international sale of goods transaction generally involves more than merely selling and purchasing goods. When goods, manufactured in China and sold to a Canadian company, move from point A in China to point B in Canada, the transaction involves a cluster of contracts ranging from the contract to carry the goods, insurance against loss of the goods, financing to guarantee the transaction, and, of course, the sales contract.
The CISG is concerned, almost exclusively, with the sale of goods portion of the transaction. And the CISG’s rules are often different from the rules that apply under the usual domestic sales laws. To understand the rights and obligations arising out of the sale of goods portion of the transaction, you ought to know about the CISG.
Prof. Daimsis is Canada’s official rapporteur to the CISG.