Reproduced with the permission of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia.

AUTHORS: Marko Djinovic & Peter Riznik

PUBLISHER: Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia; Legal Department

-   Abstract
-   Text

There are an ever-increasing number of commercial contracts governed by the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The treaty came into effect on 1 January 1988 and as at the time of writing, has 74 member states and applies to more than 70 percent of contracts in the international trade. Presumably, the high number of contracts that it governs is due to its default application in the event that the contracting parties have their places of business in different Contracting States. The CISG is also enlivened if, independent from the default mechanism, the rules of private international law lead to the application of the law of a Contracting State.

According to Article 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, ratified and published treaties shall be directly applied. However, although CISG has been in force in Slovenia for more than twenty years, the scope of its application is still relatively unknown. This is especially so amongst parties who contract for the international sale of goods.

An international trade is one of the most important branches of the Slovenian economy, it is particularly important that parties are properly informed of the CISG provisions that govern many aspects of their contractual relationship, be it in the phase of contract formation or when ascertaining their rights following a breach of contract.

Hence, instead of discussing the rationale and underlying theories of the CISG provisions, the intention of this work is to serve as a day-to-day handbook for businesses making international contracts for the sale of goods. It aims to facilitate an improved understanding of both the application of CISG and its individual provisions in this area of commerce.

The content of this work is divided into two sections:

• Introductory notes that aim to acquaint the reader with the fundamental characteristics of the CISG, including its internal structure and the extent of its application and validity; and
• A detailed explanation of individual provisions, containing a short commentary with particular emphasis on recommendations to the contracting parties and also a selection of case law. The explanation also includes a brief comparison between the CISG provisions and the regulation of the Slovenian national law of sales, which is predominantly contained in the Code of Obligations (Obligacijski zakonik).

Attached to this work is an up-to-date list of the Contacting States (the current status of CISG) complete with all declarations and reservations made by the states, the treaty text in Slovene and English language and data on the extent of trade of goods between Slovenia and other CISG members.