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LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Legislative history of CISG article 12:
Match-up with 1978 Draft to assess relevance of Secretariat Commentary

      1978 Draft article 11                              CISG article 12 
 
Any provision of article 10, article 27 or   Any provision of article 11, article 29 or 
Part II of this Convention that allows a     Part II of this Convention that allows a 
contract of sale or its modification or      contract of sale or its modification or 
abrogation or any offer, acceptance, or      termination by agreement or any offer,
other indication of intention to be made     acceptance or other indication of in- 
in any form other than in writing does       tention to be made in any form other  
not apply where any party has his place      than in writing does not apply where    
of business in a Contracting State which     any party has his place of business in a 
has made a declaration under article         Contracting State which has made a    
(X) of this Convention. The parties may      declaration under article 96 of this  
not derogate from or vary the effect of      Convention. The parties may not de-   
this article.                                rogate from or vary the effect of this 
                                             article.                                  


Editorial comments
The Secretariat Commentary on 1978 Draft article 11 is relevant to CISG
article 12.  The only substantive difference is the reference
to" termination by agreement" rather than to "abrogation".  The explanation is:

"Mr. MEDVEDEV (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) said that... the
meaning of the English word 'abrogation'...did not seem to be very clear and
[his delegation] would like to see it clarified.  Mr. FARNSWORTH (United
States of America) said that the work 'abrogation' did not correspond to a
precise legal concept in the United States.  It could apply either to
termination by mutual agreement or to unilateral termination.  However, the
term was used several times in [CISG article 29] in the sense of termination
by mutual agreement.  It could therefore be considered to have the same
meaning throughout the text of the Convention.  Therefore, it would perhaps
be preferable to replace it by the expression 'termination by mutual
agreement', which would be less ambiguous.  (Official Records, p.272.)

The Secretariat Commentary on 1978 Draft article 11 should be read in
conjunction with this explanation.

To examine 1978 Draft provisions in context, go to the full-text of the 1978 Draft || To examine CISG provisions in context, go to the full text of the CISG