Welcome to International Sales Convention Advisory Council (CISG-AC)

Scope and Aims

The CISG-AC is a private initiative which aims at promoting a uniform interpretation of the CISG. It is a private initiative in the sense that its members do not represent countries or legal cultures, but they are scholars who look beyond the cooking pot for ideas and for a more profound understanding of issues relating to CISG.

Internationality and Uniformity     

Accordingly the group is afforded the luxury of being critical of judicial or arbitral decision and of addressing issues not dealt with previously by adjudicating bodies. The Council is guided by the mandate of Article 7 of the Convention as far its interpretation and application are concerned: the paramount regard to international character of the Convention and the need to promote uniformity.

In ine with its objectives, the CISG Advisory Council is also committed to the multinational and multi-lingual character of the CISG. Accordingly the opinions of the Council is being made available in all six of the official languages of the CISG as well as a number of other prominent trade languages. In this the Council is well served by the international composition of its members.

Mode of Operation

         
In practical terms, the primary purpose of the CISG-AC is to issue opinions relating to the interpretation and application of the Convention on request or on its own initiative. Requests may be submitted to the CISG-AC, in particular, by international organizations, professional associations and adjudication bodies.

Observer Status at UNCITRAL

On 10 September 2012 the CISG Advisory Council was granted observer status by UNCITRAL. This will enable the CISG Advisory Council to attend future meetings of UNCITRAL and its working groups.

* New Opinions and Declaration

• The CISG Advisory Council approved CISG Advisory Council No 10 "Agreed Sums Payable upon Breach of an Obligation in CISG Contracts", Rapporteur Dr Pascal Hachem at its recent meeting in Wellington, New Zealand.
  
   
• The CISG Advisory Council approved CISG Advisory Council Opinion No. 11 "Issues Raised by Documents under the CISG Focusing on the Buyer’s Payment Duty", Rapporteur Prof Martin Davies  at its recent meeting in Wellington, New Zealand.
  
   
• The CISG Advisory Council also issued  Declaration No. 1 on "The CISG and Regional Harmonization" at that meeting in support of the Swiss Proposal (Doc A/CN.9/758) issued at the 45th Session of UNCITRAL held in New York from 25 June - 6 July 2012.
  
   
• The CISG Advisory Council approved CISG Advisory Council Opinion No. 13  "Inclusion of Standard Terms under the CISG", Rapporteur Prof Sieg Eiselen at its recent meeting in Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA.
   

New member
 

At its meeting of 20 January 2013 the CISG Advisory Council elected Prof Yesim Atamer of the Bilgi University, Istanbul as a new member of the Council.

Upcoming CISG Conferences