LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
1980 Vienna Diplomatic Conference

97	Article [H] [became CISG article 97 ] Declarations

A. Text by the Secretary-General

1. The text prepared by the Secretary-General provided as follows:

"Article H [became CISG article 97 ] -- Declarations

"(1) Declarations made under this Convention at the time of signature are subject to confirmation upon ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

"(2) Declarations, and the confirmation of declarations, shall be in writing and shall be formally notified to the depositary.

"[(3) Declarations made under Article B [became CISG article 93 ] shall state expressly the territorial units to which the Convention applies.]

"[(4) If a Contracting State described in Article B [became CISG article 93 ] makes no declaration at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, the Convention has effect within all territorial units of that State.]

"(5) Declarations take effect simultaneously with the entry into force of this Convention in respect of the State concerned, except for declarations of which the depositary receives formal notification after such entry into force. The latter declarations shall take effect on the first day of the month following the expiration of six months after the date of their receipt by the depositary except that reciprocal unilateral declarations under Article C [became CISG article 94 ] shall take effect on the first day of the month following the expiration of six months after the receipt of the latest declaration by the depositary.

"(6) Any State which has made a declaration under this Convention may withdraw it at any time by means of a formal notification in writing addressed to the depositary. Such withdrawal takes effect on the first day of the month following the expiration of six months receipt of the notification of the depositary

"(7) In the case of withdrawal of a declaration made under Article C of this Convention [became CISG article 94 ], such withdrawal also renders inoperative, as from the date on which the withdrawal takes effect, any reciprocal declaration made by another State under that article."

[Go to pre-Conference observations and proposals by Governments and International Organizations]

B. Amendments

2. An amendment to the article on Declarations was submitted by the United Kingdom (A/CONF.97/C.2/L.6).

3. This amendment was to the effect of deleting paragraph 4 and of substituting the words "shall take" for the word "takes" in the third line of paragraph 6 and the words "shall render" for the word "renders" in the second line of paragraph 7.

[Adopted as to paragraph 4 and referred to the Drafting Committee as to paragraphs 6 and 7: see Consideration, 5, below.]

C. Proceedings in the Second Committee

(i) Meetings

4. The Second Committee considered the article on Declarations at its [2nd meeting and 5th meeting] on 18 and 25 March 1980.

(ii) Consideration

5. At its 2nd meeting, the Second Committee adopted paragraphs 1, 2 and 6 of the article on Declarations. At the 5th meeting, paragraphs 3 and 4 were deleted on an oral proposal by Canada. Paragraph 5 was approved after an oral amendment by France to suppress the six months' delay provided for by this paragraph had been rejected. Paragraphs 6 and 7 were approved and referred to the Drafting Committee with respect to the proposal by the United Kingdom to use the jussive future (A/CONF.97/C.2/L.6).

[For subsequent Conference material on the development/approval of the final text of CISG article 97, go to Plenary Conference 11th meeting]

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