The Influence of Binding Private International Instruments on Domestic Laws in Times of Crisis

This chapter investigates the influence of international commercial instruments, namely the Vienna Sales Convention (United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG)) and the New York Convention (UN Convention on the Recognition and. Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards). It is demonstrated that the Conventions contributed to convergence in international trade transactions. This was not due to any particular crisis, but rather, a gap or inconsistency in domestic law determinations of international trade issues. Arguably, then, there is a crisis in application. This chapter also argues that—specifically in relation to the CISG application—a crisis has developed by the divergence of interpretation of the conventions. This is due to the inability of some courts to apply the mandate of the interpretive article 7; that is, avoiding recourse to domestic principles. Additionally, the diversity of languages also has contributed to a lack of perfect conventions. Still, on the whole, divergence has not been significant enough to suggest that international instruments have not contributed to harmonisation of international trade laws. Simply put, the diversions as such do not equate to a lack of overall convergence.