Links to other databases containing information on the CISG and international commercial law
The Autonomous Network of CISG Websites
Websites of international organizations
- United Nations Treaty Collection
- The UNCITRAL database
- CISG-Advisory Council
- UNIDROIT and Unilex on the Internet
- The Hague Conference on private international law
- The World Trade Organization
- The World Congress of Comparative Law
University international commercial law websites and programs
- Guide to International Trade Law Sources on the Internet
- Eye on International Business Law
- Law and Politics - Foreign and International Law, International Trade
- Foreign and International Law Research Guides
- The TransLex.org
- Transnational Law Links
- International Commercial Arbitration: Resources in Print and Electronic Format
A CISG domestic law comparative: the UCC
Websites of international organizations
United Nations Treaty Collection
The UN Treaty Section announces: "This publication contains the texts of over 34,000 bilateral and multilateral treaties in their authentic language(s), along with a translation into English and French, as appropriate."
The United Nations publication, "Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General", has been available on the Internet since 1995.
The Internet website of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law will include all current CISG abstracts published by UNCITRAL. It is intended to include all language versions of CLOUT documents. In addition, UNCITRAL plans to post on the Internet its current documents (Reports of and to Working Groups as well as Reports of and to the Commission), legal texts emanating from UNCITRAL, and a selection of travaux preparatoires.
The CISG-AC is a private initiative which aims at promoting a uniform interpretations of the CISG.
The official Unidroit World Wide Web site, which is available in its entirety in both English and French, may be accessed at:
UNILEX is based on a research project started in 1992 by the Centre for Comparative and Foreign Studies -- a joint venture of the Italian National Research Council, the University of Rome I "La Sapienza", and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT).
Their "about us" page describes this project:
UNILEX is an "intelligent" database of international case law and bibliography on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts -- two of the most important international instruments for the regulation of international commercial transactions.
UNILEX contains:
- detailed abstracts of the most important cases decided under both instruments by courts and arbitral tribunals worldwide;
- the full text of each decision in its original language (when available);
- the complete texts of the CISG and the UNIDROIT Principles;
- a status report on the state of ratifications of CISG, including reservations and declarations by States Parties;
- a vast bibliography for each instrument.
UNILEX provides access to the decisions and arbitral awards by:
- date;
- country or arbitral tribunal;
- article number of the instrument;
- specific issues listed under each article.
UNILEX provides access to the bibliography by:
- author;
- article number of the instrument;
- area.
This material is in addition available in printed loose-leaf texts marketed by Transnational Publishers, Inc., of Ardsley, New York. There is also a portion of the UNIDROIT website devoted exclusively to the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts.
The reader is reminded that the complete version of the Unidroit Principles contains not only the black-letter rules but also detailed comments on each article including, where appropriate, illustrations.
The UNIDROIT work and instruments in the area of Contrcats can be accssed at: https://www.unidroit.org/contracts
The Hague Conference on private international law
http://www.hcch.net/e/index.html
The Hague Conference is the oldest intergovernmental organization on private international law (First Session convened in 1893). Their webpage describes the Conference and its activities, e.g., "The Eighteenth Session held in October 1996 adopted the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law . . . It was also decided to include in the agenda for the Nineteenth Session, to be held in the year 2000, the question of jurisdiction, and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters."
The WTO website contains material on the World Trade Organization, trade topics and resources.
Data on the 2014 proceedings of the Congress of Comparative Law may be found at http://www.iacl2014congress.com/home/
The more specific link to the TransLex-Principles is www.trans-lex.org/principles/of-transnational-law-(lex-mercatoria)
The Translex Principles now contain the black-letter text, comparative law references and contract clauses for more than 130 principles of transnational commercial law.
Legal information Institute at Cornell. For a helpful collection of links to international law sites, go to the Guide to Foreign and International Legal Databases of the Law Library of New York University School of Law and Foreign & Comparative Legal Research Guide of Harvard Law School.
Arbitration and the CISG often go hand in hand: the typical negotiated international sales contract will likely contain an arbitration clause. For data on: International commercial arbitration bibliographies, research guides, and background sources; Major treatises, casebooks, practice guides, and looseleaf services on the subject; International arbitration journals and newsletters, including arbitration journal indexes; International arbitration rules, statutes, model laws and conventions; International arbitration courts and organizations; Internet resources on arbitration material, websites and electronic discussion groups, go to International Commercial Arbitration: Resources in Print and Electronic Format [an excellent compendium maintained by Lyonette Louis-Jacques, Foreign and International Law Librarian and Lecturer in Law, University of Chicago Law School]
http://www.natlaw.com
The Natlaw world database, maintained by Kozolchyk National Law Center is an online collection of laws, regulations, case law, and secondary source materials for countries in the Americas. It consists of 25 topics related to trade and investment.
See also the website of the Organization of American States for an extensive collection of Texts of Agreements - Trade that impact upon the Americas: http://www.oas.org/en/sla/dil/treaties_agreements.asp
Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School)
U.S. persons should be aware that where the CISG applies, it replaces the greater part of Article 2 of the U.S. Uniform Commercial Code. For comparative purposes, the text of Article 2 of this Code may be accessed by clicking to the above hypertext link.