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Article 92 [Partial ratification, acceptance, approval or accession]

(1) A Contracting State [1] may declare [3] at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession [2] that it will not be bound by Part II of this Convention or that it will not be bound [4] by Part III of this Convention.

(2) A Contracting State which makes a declaration [5] in accordance with the preceding paragraph in respect of Part II or Part III of this Convention is not to be considered a Contracting State within paragraph (1) of article 1 [6] of this Convention in respect of matters governed by the Part to which the declaration applies.

[COMMENTARY]

[1] In the 1964 Hague Conventions the conclusion of an international sales contract and its content were provided for in separate uniform laws offering to the States the possibility to accede to either one or the other or to both conventions. As a matter of fact, all Contracting States of the Hague Conventions acceded to both conventions; Belgium and Israel, however, acceded first to the one and later to the other. This possibility was to be retained, in particular, at the request of the Scandinavian States. However, since during preparatory work by UNCITRAL a majority of States had spoken out in favour of combining the rules for conclusion and content, the possibility of a reservation had to be created for interested States.

It is possible now to exclude Parts II or III of the Convention. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden made use of the possibility to exclude Part II. It is not expected that other States will perhaps exclude Part III.

[2] Compare here Article 91, note 8. The declaration can be made already at the time of signature; it will not be late, however, if made when that signature is confirmed through ratification, acceptance or approval; and it must be repeated in any case when the signature is confirmed (c. Article 97).

[3] Once a State has acceded to the Convention, it may no longer make a reservation under Article 92; there is, however, a possibility of a partial denunciation (c. Article 101, paragraph 1). [page 374]

[4] A reservation can be withdrawn at any time (c. Article 97). If the reservation was made at the time of signature, it will suffice not to confirm and/or repeat it at the time of ratification, acceptance or approval. Ratification of the non-signed part of the Convention, and/or of the part of the Convention that is excluded from signature, is then considered as accession.

[5] Insofar as the declaration was made in accordance with paragraph 1, it was not made by a State Party but rather by a signatory State, in the case of signature, or a Contracting State. Only when the Convention comes into effect in regard to the Contracting State, the latter becomes a State Party (c. preface of part IV).

[6] Hence the reservation is relevant also in respect of the scope of application of the Convention (Article I, paragraph 1). This becomes relevant, for instance, in the relations of Germany with Sweden, and/or other Scandinavian States. When companies of the two above-mentioned States conclude sales contracts, the Convention is not applied to the conclusion of the contract according to Article 1, paragraph 1, subparagraph (a) because only one of the parties has his place of business in a Contracting State. The provisions to be applied to the formation of the contract follow from the rules of the international private law. If they refer to Swedish law, then this is to be invoked. If, however, they refer to German law, then the CISG is applied irrespective of the Swedish reservation because the Convention is part of German law, and is to be applied under Article 1, paragraph 1, subparagraph (b) even when the rules of international private law refer to the law of one Contracting State, even if only one, or none, of the parties has his place of business in a Contracting State (c. Article 1, note 6).

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