Legal issues in the application of CISG in online sale (e-commence) contracts

The objective of this article is mainly to determine whether the scope of application of the CISG covers online sale contracts since there is no mention about ecommerce in the Convention. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for International Sale of Goods 1980 was adopted a quarter of century ago while advanced electronic communication technologies were not available. Today's business transaction heavily depends on electronic commerce which is mostly operated through workable business website. The application of the CISG depends on the subject-matter and international character of the transaction and its relationship to the Convention. Therefore, the most decisive factor for the scope of application is subject-matter of the sale and parties' places of business which helps determining internationality of the contract. This paper examines the form requirement under Article 13 of the Convention which includes telegram and telex to be considered as writing and whether this also includes electronic transactions. This paper also scrutinises the concept of cyberspace as a place of business to determine the requirement of internationality under the Convention. The final outcome of this paper is to assert that the use of electronic communication technology does not turn the CISG inapplicable to International sale transactions.