Implementation of Cisg and of the System of International Commercial Arbitration in Southeast Europe

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Implementation of the United Nations Convention

on the International Sale of Goods and of the

system of International Commercial Arbitration

in Southeast Europe

"Prepared in cooperation with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law".

A report on a GTZ Project, undertaken with the support of

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

Partner for the Future.

World wide.BY APPOINTMENT OF



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Implementation o the United NationsConvention on the International Sale o

Goods and o the system o International

Commercial Arbitration in Southeast Europe

A report on a GTZ Project, undertaken

with the support o United Nations Commission

on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

“Prepared in cooperation with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law”.

BY APPOINTMENT OFPartner for the Future.

Worldwide.



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Disclaimer

This report is based on the inormation provided in the country reports prepared or the Project

“Regional Implementation o the Convention on International Sales o Goods and International

Commercial Arbitration” and the lessons learned during the Project implementation. Reerence to

names o private rms does not imply their endorsement by the Deutsche Gesellschat ür Technis-

che Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ) and the United Nations. The views and opinions expressed by the

author do not necessarily reect those o the Deutsche Gesellschat ür Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ) and the United Nations.



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Implementation o CISG and ICA in South East Europe:

the role o uniorm commercial law in promoting

cross-border transactions

The Project “Regional Implementation o the Convention on International Sales o

Goods and International Commercial Arbitration” (CISGICA Project), part o a broader

eort o the Deutsche Gesellschat ür Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) to improve

the legal ramework in South East Europe, was launched in partnership with the United

Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and other regional institu-

tions with a view to strengthening an enabling regional environment or cross-border

transactions through the promotion o a harmonised legal ramework.

The Project had the twoold objective o improving the application o the United

Nations Convention on Contracts or the International Sales o Goods (CISG) and the

use o international commercial arbitration to resolve commercial disputes. Particular

attention was given to the promotion o the CISG. This Convention, prepared by UNCI-

TRAL and adopted in 1980, enables traders rom dierent countries to carry out their

transactions in a legal context that is transparent, neutral, predictable and consistent.Over the years the CISG has been adopted by an increasing number o states with di-

erent legal traditions and at dierent levels o economic development. As at October

2010, the CISG has 76 states parties: it represents a successul example o uniorm

commercial law.

Dierences in domestic legislation are not per se detrimental to international

trade, however there are situations when those dierences can operate as a barrier to

international commerce because they create legal uncertainty. Legal uncertainty can

increase the cost o a transaction (or instance there is a need to collect inormation on

the oreign law applicable to the contract) or become a deterrent to the transaction (i

traders are concerned about the application o a oreign law to the contract). Small and

medium enterprises, which represent the backbone o many economies in the Region,

may be particularly aected by legal dierences in their quest or new partners and new

markets, as they oten lack the skills to drat contracts and cannot always aord special-

ized legal advice.



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A uniorm legal environment is thus a key contribution to improving international

commerce and hence economic growth. Uniorm commercial laws, once adopted by

States, become part o domestic legal systems and are readily accessible to the judici-

ary, the legal community and trading parties. They oer a set o rules that is similar in

all adopting countries and can be better suited to international transactions than do-mestic law, since uniorm laws are negotiated in a neutral orum and with the contribu-

tion o experts rom many dierent legal systems. The CISG, or instance, does not use

legal concepts typical o any given legal tradition, but it has established its own neutral

terminology and approach. When the Convention is applied, reerence is to be had to

its provisions, its international character, the general principles on which it is based and

the need to promote the observance o good aith in international transactions. The use

o concepts derived rom a domestic legal ramework should not be necessary in the

application o the Convention. This approach creates a saer environment where traders

rom dierent countries and with dierent degrees o bargaining power can establish a

more balanced business relation.

The CISGICA Project has provided an invaluable opportunity or UNCITRAL to work

with many stakeholders in the Balkan Region to promote such a sae environment or

cross-border trade. Thanks to GTZ, the Project has brought together existing regional

expertise and enthusiasm, and the international experience and perspective o expertsrom outside the Project countries. This has proved to be a successul combination to

reach the Project objectives. Now that the Project is completed, it is important that the

regional expertise and enthusiasm continue to provide support at country level to sus-

tain and institutionalize the knowledge o the texts promoted by the Project. UNCITRAL

will gladly contribute to these sustained eorts.

Renaud Sorieul

The Secretary

United Nations Commission

on International Trade Law



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Implementation o CISG and ICA in South East Europe:

a joint project carried out by the institutions o the

region, UNCITRAL and GTZ

The Deutsche Gesellschat ür Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) has, or a long

time, been engaged in the legal and judicial reorm o countries in South East Europe.

Funding has been provided by the German Federal Ministry o Economic Cooperation

and Development (BMZ). Since 1st January, 2007, the bilateral portolios in several o

these countries have been supplemented by Open Regional Funds (ORF) or South East

Europe. A total o our ORFs were set up, one o which was or legal reorm.

The ORF-legal reorm is open to initiatives put orward by interested members o

the public, or by civil or private partners who make proposals or projects. Any such

proposal should serve to provide better regional integration, to contribute to EU har-

monization and to improve the legal economic ramework.

One project that was conducted within the ramework o ORF-legal reorm ocused

on the regional implementation o the Convention on Contracts or the International

Sale o Goods (CISG) and International Arbitration (ICA) – a project carried out jointly by

GTZ and the Secretariat o the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

(UNCITRAL).

Ater two years o common eorts by institutional partners UNCITRAL and GTZ,

along with the eorts o many local, regional and international experts, the pictureregarding the implementation o CISG and ICA changed in some ways. The main

change was that Albania had become a member o CISG. But there were also obvious

and quantiable changes regarding the implementation o the project. Indeed, even

though Yugoslavia was one o the 11 signatory states beore CISG came into orce in

1988, not a single case had been included in the CLOUT database beore the project

started. Today, a total o 13 cases rom the region have been reported. And last but

not least, the Premoot was built up under the name o the ‘Belgrade Open’. In 2008, it

was attended by 12 law aculties rom 10 dierent countries, in 2009 by 17 teams rom



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15 countries, and in 2010 the ‘Belgrade Open’ gathered 22 teams rom 16 countries

(Albania, Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Germany, India, Italy, Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, Ser-

bia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA).

The main activities have been carried out with the aim o raising public awarenessand in order to disseminate inormation throughout the dierent countries. Thus, the

project was intended to reach current practitioners (judges and lawyers), uture prac-

titioners (students, candidate judges and assistant proessors), and the business com-

munity.

The ollowing text rom Fabian von Schlabrendor provides us with a solid analy-

sis o the legal and actual status o the situation regarding CISG and ICA in South East

Europe. It can be regarded as the summary o two years o eorts carried out by many

sound experts, and without whom its implementation would not have been possible.

In the name o GTZ, we would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to

UNCITRAL and to express our hope or continued and successul uture cooperation.

Dr. Judith Knieper

Legal expertORF-legal reorm



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Implementation o the United Nations Convention on

the International Sale o Goods and o the system o

International Commercial Arbitration in

Southeast Europe

A report on a GTZ Project, undertaken with the support o UNCITRAL, by Fabian von Schlabrendorf

Since January 2007, the Deutsche Gesellschat ür Technische Zusammenarbeit

GmbH (GTZ) has employed a new instrument o technical cooperation on behal o the

German Federal Ministry or Economic Cooperation and Development The Open Re-

gional Funds or Southeast Europe are intended to enhance regional cooperation and

integration among the countries which have emerged as separate states as a conse-

quence o the disintegration o Yugoslavia and the ending o its socialist planned econ-

omy. The Open Regional Funds supplement the classic bilateral instruments o technical

cooperation such as advice, network building, knowledge management and training.

They oer project partners in the region the possibility o developing and implement-

ing their own project proposals.

Within the ramework o the GTZ Open Regional Fund or Southeast Europe -

Legal Reorm, which ocuses on the application o selected laws and regulations in

business and trade in the region and their conormity with international legal instru-

ments, the GTZ has launched a project on the implementation o the Convention on

the International Sale o Goods (CISG) and the system o international commercial

arbitration (ICA). The CISG and international instruments in the eld o ICA have been

adopted and are promoted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade

Law (UNCITRAL). The countries which have been involved in this project include Alba-

nia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

In the ollowing, these countries will be jointly termed the “Project Countries”.



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I. The GTZ Project’s objectives

The global arena o trade and commerce is characterised by the absence o a co-

herent supranational system o laws and regulations. There is, or example, no code o international contract law, nor is there any international system o public courts or ap-

plying such law and resolving disputes. Even within the European Union, which aims at

developing and perecting its Common Market, a supranational system o contract law

and a corresponding judicial system has not yet developed. There are, however, two

well-established and tested instruments o transnational law o general application or

cross-border sales contracts. These are the United Nations Convention on the Interna-

tional Sale o Goods (CISG, 1980)1 and the prevalent system o international commercial

arbitration (ICA) which allows the enorcement o rights under any international com-

mercial contracts.

The GTZ Project presented in this report has ocused on the implementation o

these two transnational legal instruments in Southeast Europe. The Project’s immediate

aim is to increase the knowledge o legal proessionals and o the business community

about CISG and ICA with the expectation that this will result in a more regular use o

these instruments in cross-border commercial transactions in Southeast Europe.

The CISG, adopted by a Diplomatic Conerence held in Vienna on 11 April 1980,

provides or a set o uniorm rules applicable to international sales contracts. In the

event that its rules are applicable in accordance with its substantive, international and

territorial standards o applicability, these rules prevail over any recourse to a orum’s

private international law. Thus, the CISG contains directly applicable uniorm rules or

international sales transactions. Membership o the Convention continues to grow; at

the time o the writing o this report it has come into orce in 76 states worldwide, in-

cluding major trading countries (such as the USA, Russia, China and most o the mem-

ber states o the European Union); by now, ater Albania has joined in 2009 as well, it is

also on the law books o all the Project Countries2.

1More inormation on the CISG and the travaux preparatoires are available at

http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/uncitral_texts/sale_goods/1980CISG.html

2The CISG can thereore rightly be termed a world sales law. See Jernej Sekolec, Digest o case law on the UN

Sales Convention: The combined wisdom o judges and arbitrators promoting uniorm interpretation o the Con-vention, in: Ferrari/Flechtner/Brand (ed.), The Drat UNCITRAL Digest and Beyond: Cases, Analysis and Unresolved

Issues in the U.N. Sales Convention, 2004, p. 1



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The resolution o disputes in international trade by way o international com-

mercial arbitration does rely on domestic legislation being in existence practical-

ly everywhere which recognises the autonomous power o contracting parties to

agree to have their disputes decided by an arbitral tribunal, and also on a number

o international conventions assuring the recognition and enorcement o arbitral

awards across national borders. ICA is also a recognised and available method o

dispute resolution in all o the Project Countries3. In a number o cases, their arbitra-

tion legislation is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law and is thereore quite similar

in its approach and regulatory content. At the level o international conventions, by

ar the most signiicant legal instrument is the United Nations Convention on the

Recognition and Enorcement o Foreign Arbitral Awards (or the New York Conven-

tion) o 1958 which provides or the recognition o arbitration agreements and the

recognition and enorcement o oreign arbitral awards in its member countries. At

the time o this report, the Convention has been adopted by 145 states, including

all the Project Countries.

Typically, in eorts towards law reorm, issues o substantive and procedural law

are treated as discrete matters. The GTZ Project, however, has been conceptualised to

take a holistic approach and has viewed the CISG and ICA as two unctionally interre-

lated parts o a coherent system o law or international commercial contracts.

The GTZ Project, looking at the available transnational legal ramework or cross-

border sales contracts, has identied CISG and ICA as its essential and symbiotic com-

ponents. While CISG provides substantive rules regulating the entering into and per-

ormance o international sales contracts and possible consequences in the case o

non-perormance, the ICA system oers a recognised, i nowadays not the predominant,

means or resolving international commercial disputes, including disputes concerning

sales transactions.

A second, equally important aspect o the GTZ Project has been its ocus on the im-

plementation o existing transnational legal instruments. With the exception o Albania,

which had not yet adopted the CISG at the beginning o the project, all o the countries

concerned have been members o the CISG, meaning that their national rules applica-

3Mediation as distinct rom arbitration, can be combined with arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism or

even, i leading to a settlement agreement, replace it. The GTZ Project has also recognised this but its main thrusthas been to promote the implementation o arbitration as a mechanism o dispute resolution which ully replaces

court decisions.



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ble to international sales are those o the CISG, i and to the extent that the Convention

applies. Likewise, all countries concerned recognize arbitration as a method o settling

business disputes and, in accordance with the New York Convention, have legislation in

place which provides or the recognition and enorcement o oreign arbitral awards.

The above has allowed the GTZ Project to direct its ocus entirely towards measuresaimed at the implementation o the existing structures o transnational law or interna-

tional sales contracts in the Project Countries. No new rules needed to be ormulated or

existing ones redrated in a potentially lengthy law reorm process. Instead, the ocus

was on the application and use made o CISG and ICA in their existing orm. This ocus

on implementation promises to have an immediate benecial eect on the unctioning

o cross-border transactions in Southeast Europe. The CISG, by allowing its users to rely

on a uniorm set o substantive rules, instead o having to deal with dierences between

national contract laws, reduces transactional costs and legal uncertainties, particularly

or small and medium-sized enterprises with limited resources. Similarly, the possibility

o reerring any disputes concerning the perormance o international sales contracts to

arbitral tribunals empowered to settle disputes in its respective international setting4,

while easing the burden o the state courts in business cases, promises to encourage

trading partners to engage in cross-border transactions, thereby strengthening compe-

tition across borders in avour o both businesses and consumers.

By assisting the development o international trade amongst the Project Countries

themselves, as well as between countries rom the region and other countries, the im-

plementation o CISG and ICA thereore ultimately serves the objective o improving

economic and social welare in Southeast Europe.

The GTZ Project’s objective o strengthening the legal ramework or international

sales contracts in the Southeast Europe region is reminiscent o the eorts undertaken

in the European Union to urther develop the Common Market by creating a ramework

or a European Contract Law, coupled with the development o national judiciary sys-

tems which mutually recognise and enorce the decisions made by their courts in all

member states o the Union5.

The GTZ Project has undoubtedly been ar more modest in its purpose, concen-

4This ability concerns both the issue o the language used in the proceedings as well as the issue o understand-

ing the “internationality” o the contract and its related aspects.5 These eorts have most recently been summarized in the Commission’s Green Paper o 1 July 2010 or the pur-

pose o launching a public consultation regarding possible policy options.



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trating exclusively on what can be achieved in the short term in the limited area o an

improved implementation o the existing legal instruments o CISG and ICA in the Pro-

ject Countries. The comparison o the GTZ Project with the European strategies, gives a

good idea o the unctionally integrated character o the GTZ Project, however.

II. The approach taken

In order to achieve its objective o an improved implementation o the CISG and o

ICA in the Project Countries, the GTZ Project has taken the approach o actively involv-

ing regional organisations, academics, decision-makers and other persons with possible

multiplier eects in the Project rom its outset. The need or a true implementation o the

uniorm rules on sales contracts and the system o international arbitration in Southeast

Europe was discussed in various regional ora. A detailed analysis o the implementation

situation ound in the individual Project Countries was prepared to serve as a basis or

urther debate and to better develop and widen the regional understanding o the issues

involved. Inormation materials were prepared and education and training measures un-

dertaken to spread the message o the need or a better implementation o CISG and ICA.

A regional network o contacts was established between organisations and individualswhich were all given the opportunity to dene the issues, share their experiences with

each other and ormulate measures to be taken or a better implementation o the legal

instruments o CISG and ICA.

Individual measures undertaken include:

In early 2008, GTZ identied national legal experts in the Project Countries and

entrusted them with assessing the then current state o aairs concerning CISG and

ICA. The ollowing reports, all structured in a way to deal with the same issues, were

produced:

Report on the implementation o the convention on international sales o goods

(CISG) and international arbitration in Albania, by Alban Caushi, Kalo & Associates,

Attorneys at Law, Tirana, Albania

Bosnia-Herzegovina Country Report on CISG and International Arbitration, by Pro-essor Miloš Triković, Faculty o Law, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina



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Report on the 1980 Convention on the International Sale o Goods – Croatia, by

Doc. dr. sc. Davor Babić, University o Zagreb, Faculty o Law, Zagreb, Croatia

Report on Arbitration Law – Croatia, by Doc. dr. sc. Davor Babić, University o Za-

greb, Faculty o Law, Zagreb, Croatia

Report on the UN Convention on Contracts or the International Sale o Goods, by

Dr. Arsen Janevski, Faculty o Law “Justinian I” Skopje, Macedonia

Report on International Arbitration in the Republic o Macedonia, by Dr. Arsen

Janevski, Faculty o Law “Justinian I”, Skopje, Macedonia

United Nations Convention on the International Sale o Goods – CISG, by Dr.

Snežana Miladinović, Faculty o Law, Podgorica, Montenegro

International Arbitration in Montenegro, by Pro. Dr. Maja Kostic-Mandic, Member

o Parliament, Podgorica, Montenegro

Country Report Serbia – Convention on International Sale o Goods (CISG); Appli-

cation o the CISG in Serbia – UNCITRAL - GTZ, by Pro. Dr. Jelena Perovic, Faculty o

Economics, University o Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

Country Report Serbia – Legal Framework or International Arbitration, by Milena

Djordjević, Lecturer, University o Belgrade Faculty o Law, Belgrade, Serbia

From June 16 to 19, 2008, a roundtable was organised in Běcići, Montenegro, at-

tended by a GTZ expert and a representative o the UNCITRAL Secretariat, at which theregional reporters discussed the results o their ndings with the aim o developing

strategies or promoting the use o CISG and ICA in the region.

On the basis o the country reports received and the discussions and conclusions

reached at the Běcići roundtable, the GTZ expert produced a report in all 2008 en-

titled “GTZ Project, CISGICA, Presentation o the Country Reports”, which summarised

the individual country reports and listed general recommendations or urther action.

This report, printed in the orm o a brochure, was distributed to academics and legal

practitioners in the Project Countries with an interest in the issues raised.

In December o 2008, GTZ organised a roundtable presentation on CISG and ICA at

the annual conerence o the Mt. Kopaonik School o Natural Law in Serbia, which was

attended by over a thousand jurists, university proessors, judges, lawyers and law stu-

dents rom Serbia and other countries in Southeast Europe. The event, in which someo the legal experts attending the Běcići meeting participated as speakers, was well-



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Moot o 2010 attracted a record number o teams participating, with students coming

rom 22 universities in 16 dierent countries.

In the context o this conerence, GTZ organised a regional roundtable dealing

with the results achieved so ar and the urther implementation o the GTZ Project in

the region. This roundtable was attended by a number o the regional GTZ-appointedexperts, by a representative o the UNCITRAL Secretariat, and by Dr. Jernej Sekolec, or-

mer Secretary o UNCITRAL.

III. A brie overview o CISG and ICA

1. CISG

As set orth in the preamble to the CISG, its purpose is to provide a uniorm set o

rules, so that parties rom dierent countries can be certain about the sales law to which

their transaction will be subject, thereby reducing an important barrier to cross-border

trade which has traditionally existed. The relevant passage in the preamble reads:

“adoption o uniorm rules which govern contracts or the international sale o goods

and take into account the diferent social, economic and legal systems which would contrib-

ute to the removal o legal barriers in international trade and promote the development o

international trade.”

The CISG is an international treaty but, by way o enacting statute or by way o a

rule o law providing or treaties automatically becoming law, it has also become do-

mestic law in the countries which have adopted it. To the extent the CISG applies, itintroduces the same uniorm rules into the CISG’s member states’ legal systems, with

the result that parties rom these states, when engaging in sales transactions, thereore

do so under the same rules, thereby eliminating or minimising the need to consider

dierent legal systems that might become relevant in any given transaction. The CISG

does this by oering a set o rules which provide or a recognised balanced approach

o regulating the interests o the seller and the buyer in such transactions, an approach

which has proven to be long-lasting and solid.8 As many writers have pointed out, CISG

8 See Rol Knieper , Celebrating Success by Accession to CISG, in: Journal o Law and Commerce (2005-06) 477-481



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represents solutions in sales law which provide a bridge between many legal systems,

be they rooted in the civil law or in the common law tradition.9

a) CISG’s sphere o application

The CISG, as has been noted above, is now law on the books o all the countries

covered by the GTZ Project, although its adoption was still under consideration in Al-

bania at the time the GTZ Project was started,. But how do courts or arbitral tribunals

come to apply CISG and what conditions have to be ullled to make the rules o CISG

applicable to a particular sales contract?

The rst thing to note is that CISG is generally viewed as representing the law or

international sales as such directly, without any recourse to the private international law

rules applicable as the lex ori in a particular country. In other words, a court or arbitral

tribunal dealing with the issue is asked to look into whether CISG is applicable by di-

rectly applying the CISG’s own rules o application, since the uniorm substantive law o

the CISG is understood to prevail over any rules o private international law that might

apply.

The CISG only applies to international sales contracts. The approach taken by theConvention to dene internationality is simple. The sole criterion is whether or not the

parties to the contract have their places o business (or habitual residences) in dier-

ent states, regardless o their citizenship. The Convention also provides or a rule in the

event that a party has multiple places o business (according to Art. 10 (a) the place o

business having the closest relationship to the contract and its perormance).

I an international sales is deemed to exist, the CISG is applicable i either the require-

ments o Art. 1(1)(a) or those o Art. 1(1)(b) are met. According to the criteria set out in

Art. 1(1)(a), the CISG is applicable to the parties to a contract or the sale o goods i the

parties have their places o business in dierent Contracting States. According to Art. 1 (1)

(b), even when both parties do not have their places o business in any o the Contracting

States, the CISG is also applicable, provided that the rules o private international law lead

to the application o the law o a Contracting State. In this case, the CISG will be applicable

when the law chosen by the parties or, in the absence o a choice o law, the law having

the closest connection to the contract, is the law o a Contracting State.9 Cook , CISG: From the Perspective o the Practitioner, at: http://www.cisg.law.pace.edu/cisg/biblio/cook.html



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In relation to arbitral tribunals it can be stated that, provided that the place o ar-

bitration is based in a Contracting State, the provisions o the CISG also apply according

to Art. 1 (1)(a) or Art. 1 (1)(b)10.

According to its name, as well as its Art. 1, the CISG is applicable to contracts “or

the sale o goods”. According to Art. 3(1) CISG, however, it is also applicable to contractsor the supply o goods to be manuactured or produced, unless the party ordering the

goods undertakes to supply a substantial part o the materials necessary or the manu-

acture or production. According to Art. 3(2) CISG, contracts or the provision o services

are only included, “where the provision o services does not make up the preponderant

part o the contract”. Article 2 CISG denes certain types o sales transactions which are

excluded rom the sphere o application o CISG, i.e. sales or personal use, sales by auc-

tion, sales on execution or otherwise by authority o law, sales o stocks, shares, invest-

ment securities, negotiable instruments and money, sales o ships, vessels, hovercrat or

aircrat and sales o electricity.

There is no denition in the CISG as to what constitutes a sales contract. In prac-

tice, however, this hardly poses a problem as, independently o the civil or commercial

character o the parties or the contract itsel, it is recognised by legal doctrine under the

Convention that a sales contract is to be dened as “a contract pursuant to which one

party – the seller – is bound to deliver the goods and transer the property in the goodssold and the other party – the buyer – is obliged to pay the price and accept the goods.”

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In legal writings and case law it is also recognised that contracts modiying an in-

ternational sales contract, and contracts or the delivery o goods by instalments all

under the CISG’s sphere o application. There are, however, other types o contracts, e.g.

distribution agreements or consignment agreements where no common view as to the

applicability o the CISG has yet developed.12

As the above shows, the Convention, in an eort to take account o the growing

ocus o modern trade not only on ready-made goods, but also on goods to be manu-

actured and related services, extends the sphere o the CISG’s application beyond the

10See Brunner , UN-Kaurecht – CISG, Art. 1 No. 1.; Ferrari, Flechtner, Brand , (eds.) The Drat UNCITRAL Digest, page

55, 56.

11See Ferrari, op. cit, p. 59, 60

12See Ferrari, op. cit, p. 63 seq.



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classical sales contract to hybrid contracts involving the “sale” o both labour and ser-

vices. The Convention thereby shows that it is a law which is actually capable o dealing

with the commercial realities o the evolving world o international trade. The price to

be paid or this is a certain degree o uncertainty as to the applicability o the CISG to

“mixed” sales-services contracts. This uncertainty, however, typically also exists in do-mestic legislation on sales contracts. At the level o the Convention, as on that o any

specic law, any such uncertainty has to be overcome by case law which, in the case o

the CISG, now being applicable in 76 countries, is growing and being made accessible

with impressive requency.

Art. 6 o the CISG provides the parties with the possibility o “opting out” o the

Convention and excluding its applicability. In such instances, thereore, even though all

requirements or its applicability are otherwise met, the CISG does not apply. This rule is

generally interpreted as an expression o the principle o party autonomy. The lack o an

agreement to exclude is a – negative – applicability requirement.

For international sales transactions this rule implies that, with regard to large and

complex deals, the parties retain the possibility o making their contract subject to an

agreed municipal law, or o choosing whatever other solution they deem appropriate

without necessarily being bound to the rules o the CISG. The opt-out approach, on theother hand, ensures that the rules under which the transaction takes place are clear

rom the outset and do not imply any surprises or the one or the other side, particularly

in the case o small and medium-sized transactions where the parties may have neither

the money nor the time to obtain proessional legal advice.

There is some debate as to what extent the applicability o the CISG can be exclud-

ed by implication. This is not an issue o mere theoretical signicance, as evidenced by

a variety o potential means o implicit exclusion. How is this issue to be seen i, or ex-

ample, the parties have made a choice in avour o the law o a Contracting State in their

sales contract? The case law on this question is contradictory.13 The prevailing opinion

as expressed in many court decisions and arbitral awards is, however, that the mere

reerence to the domestic law o a Contracting State does not exclude the Convention’s

application per se as the intention o the parties o implicitly excluding the Convention

must be real and not just hypothetical.14

13Ferrari, op. cit. p. 124

14Rovelli, as quoted in Ferrari, op. cit., p. 122



18

b) CISG’s scope o application

The CISG, like many substantive uniorm law conventions, is not an exhaustive

body o rules. It deals only with a limited, though important, set o matters concerning

international sales contracts. For a determination o its scope o application, Art. 4 is themost relevant provision as this article enumerates the matters with which the CISG is

concerned and lists some o the matters which are excluded. But there are other articles,

such as Art. 8 and 29, which are also relevant in determining the issues covered by the

rules o the CISG.

According to Art. 4, the Convention governs the ormation o a sales contract and the

rights and obligations o the seller and the buyer arising rom such a contract. Forma-

tion o the contract comprises the objective requirements or the conclusion o a sales

contract. Also covered is the question o the required orm o the contract (no need o

written orm, Art. 11). Whether a contract is validly ormed, however, in terms o any

subjective requirements concerning the intentions o the parties15 or the solvency o

the other party is not covered by the Convention, but remains subject to applicable

national rules.

According to Art. 4, the Convention also covers and is concerned with the rightsand obligations o the seller and the buyer arising rom the contract. Obviously, or the

purposes o the uniorm regulation o the contracting relationship, these are the most

important aspects o the contractual relationship to be regulated. This main body o

the rules covers the seller’s obligations in Art. 30 through 52, the buyer’s obligations

regulated in Art. 53 through 65, the provisions on the passing o risk in Art. 66 through

70 and the remedies or breach o contract as established in Art. 71 through 88. As it is

expressly stated in Art. 4, however, the CISG does not govern the transer o property in

the goods sold. This exclusion was inserted in the Convention at the time because the

draters considered it impossible to arrive at uniorm rules on this point.

According to Art. 5, issues o liability or death or personal injury to a person caused

by the goods are also expressly excluded rom the scope o the Convention. In addition,

in practical application potentially important areas o regulation such as the conclusion

o contracts through an authorised agent, standard terms, and certain eects owing

15 Mistakes made by a party concerning the characteristics o the goods sold are, however, covered by the Con-

vention.



19

rom state intervention at various stages o the lie cycle o a contract remain also un-

covered.

It is generally recognised that the act that the CISG does not cover each and

every aspect o an international sales transaction can raise problems in individual cas-es with regard to determining the exact scope o the Convention and the subsidiary

applicability o the otherwise applicable national law. On the whole, however, these

difculties cannot detract rom the act that the CISG oers a ull set o uniorm rules

on the ormation and implementation o international sales contracts which provides

a solid basis the parties can rely on and which covers all the perormance issues under

a sales contract in an even-handed and generally acceptable way.

c) Autonomous interpretation

What has certainly helped the CISG to gain wide acceptance16 is the principle o

interpretation as contained in its Art. 7. It requires that “in the interpretation o the Con-

vention, regard is to be given to its international character and to the need to promote

uniormity in its application and the observance o good aith in international trade”.

This provision has been designed to secure the uniormity o law which the draterso the CISG aimed or. Generally, it is viewed by legal commentators and in case law to

mean that the CISG is to be interpreted autonomously and not in the light o domestic

law. The national courts in each Contracting State are expected not to have recourse to

any domestic concepts in order to resolve problems o interpretation arising under the

CISG.

Art. 7 also deals with the issue o gap-lling, again with the aim o achieving uni-

ormity in the CISG’s application. According to Art. 7 (2), “questions concerning matters

governed by this Convention which are not expressly settled in it are to be settled in

conormity with the general principles on which it is based or, in the absence o such

principles, in conormity with the law applicable by virtue o the rules o private interna-

tional law”. It is to be noted that the gaps to which Art. 7 (2) reers are not those issues

16Cook, CISG: From the Perspective o the Practitioner, at: http://www.cisg.law.pace.edu/cisg/biblio/cook.html

For an analysis o the signicance o the CISG in contract practise and the regulatory relationship between this

contract and the UNIDROIT Principles o International Commercial Contracts see Herbert Kronke, The UN Sales

Convention, the UNIDROIT Contract Principles and the Way Beyond, 26 Journal o Law and Commerce 451 seq.(2005/06).



20

not alling under the scope o the CISG but those to which the Convention applies but

does not provide an express answer.

Application o the principle o autonomous interpretation assists o course in

achieving uniormity as much as possible. On the other hand, however, it also repre-sents a challenge or courts and arbitral tribunals in gaining access to the case law and

legal writings on CISG in the Contracting States. It is only possible to hope or a reason-

able degree o uniormity i access can be provided to these.

In order to meet this challenge, however, many steps have been taken since the ini-

tial adoption o the CISG. There are a number o websites on CISG with bibliographies and

case law rom all over the world. The most comprehensive o those appears to be that o

Pace University Institute o International Commercial Law. The Centre or Comparative and

Foreign Law Studies in Rome has set up UNILEX. But most important are the eorts o UN-

CITRAL. In its CLOUT inormation system (Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts) UNCITRAL collects

decisions on CISG and makes them available “to any interested party” in abstracts trans-

lated into the six ofcial languages o the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French,

Russian, Spanish) . More recently, in 2008, UNCITRAL published a revised UNCITRAL Digest

(published or the rst time in 2004), which provides or an analytical digest o court and

arbitration cases, identiying trends in interpretation based on the case law collected bynational correspondents. Although the Digest does not provide critical comments on the

case material it reports about, it certainly constitutes a work providing broad access to the

case law in Contracting States rom dierent geographical regions.

2. ICA

The unction o ICA as a procedural mechanism applicable to international sales

contracts can be summarily described as ollows: By opting or arbitration, parties to a

sales contract eectively waive their right to have any dispute arising out o their con-

tractual relationship heard by a national court. Instead they agree on an internation-

ally accepted private system o dispute settlement not tied to any system o municipal

courts as ar as the decision on the merits is concerned, a system which, as a matter o

principle, requires the intervention o state courts only at the level o the enorcement

o the award issued by the arbitral tribunal.



21

I the CISG can be viewed as representing a world sales law, the existing world-

wide system o international commercial arbitration, as practiced and supported by an

interplay o national arbitration laws and international conventions such as the New

York Convention, may also be regarded as a global system o dispute resolution which,

in combination with CISG, is perectly suitable to orm a uniorm legal ramework orinternational sales transactions.

a) The regional signifcance o international commercial arbitration

International commercial arbitration is, as is universally recognised, a contract

creature as it presupposes an agreement o the parties to subject their disputes to ar-

bitration. At the same time, however, arbitration needs to somehow t into a system o

state justice in so ar as parties agreeing on arbitration obviously expect that the state

courts will provide the necessary support to the arbitral tribunal and that the award

rendered by the arbitral tribunal is a title comparable to the judgment o a state court.

Parties to international sales contracts, including parties with their place o busi-

ness in the Project Countries, have the reedom to agree on any type o arbitration,

whether non-administered arbitration or arbitration administered by any kind o insti-

tution and conducted by whomever the parties chose as arbitrators at any location inthe world deemed suitable or this purpose. As the country reports show, this basic

oundation o the reedom to arbitrate, as a matter o principle, is now being provided

in all countries concerned, with the result that there is ull access to the system o inter-

national commercial arbitration. No limitations exist; commercial arbitration with par-

ties rom the Project Countries can take place wherever the parties deem it appropriate.

Secondly, with the exception o Albania, which still needs to adopt its law on in-

ternational arbitration, there is in all legal systems considered specic legislation on ar-

bitration in place, sometimes even very recently ormulated reorm legislation inspired

by the UNCITRAL Model Law, which allows parties to engage in domestic as well as

international arbitration proceedings. In particular, all the states concerned are mem-

bers o the New York Convention which opens the doors to parties rom the Project

Countries to worldwide recognition o arbitration agreements and o enorceability o

oreign arbitral awards. The signicance o the New York Convention in providing or

this recognition and enorceability can hardly be overestimated. Now celebrating 50years o existence, this Convention is no doubt the magna charta and oundation o to-



22

day’s international commercial arbitration practice to which the Project Countries have

ull access17.

Thirdly, institutional arbitration has evolved in similar ways around the world, and

international arbitration practice is developing towards the adoption o “best practices”and a number o standardised approaches. Again, there is no reason why arbitration

practice in the Project Countries should rerain rom taking part in these developments.

b) Prevalent trends o arbitration law reorm in the region

Due to the act that the nature o international commercial arbitration means that it is

not tied to any pre-determined jurisdiction, it allows parties to locate their arbitral tribunal

in places where they can nd the necessary legislative and court support or the conduct

o their arbitration. However, despite this considerable exibility in the arbitration system,

when it comes to building an international legal ramework or cross-border trade, parties

to such transactions also need to be able to rely on a unctioning system o commercial

arbitration within the region itsel. From the perspective o trading partners rom outside

the region, this is obviously necessary, in particular regarding the enorcement o arbitral

awards rendered in other countries. And as ar as cross-border trade within the regionitsel is concerned, partners should be ensured that, i arbitration is chosen as a neutral

orum, the national legislation supports such choice and allows arbitration proceedings

to be conducted in the way expected by the parties.

Details as to the current status o arbitration law reorm can be gathered rom the

country reports produced in the ramework o the GTZ Project. As to the general pic-

ture, the importance o providing the business community with a unctioning arbitra-

tion system, in particular international arbitration, has been recognised by lawmakers,

even though it can be observed that, in view o other seemingly more directly pressing

priorities, the process o reorming legislation on arbitration is generally slow.

The most signicant inuence in this process within the entire region comes rom

the work o UNCITRAL and its Model Law on Arbitration. The Model Law has played a

very important and recognised role in the modernisation o arbitration laws worldwide,

17 It is this status o the New York Convention which, at the same time, also makes it appear difcult to make and

implement reorm proposals which would require the consent o its more than 140 members.



23

in both industrialized and developing countries, and it perorms this role o a “model

law” or the Project Countries as well, as demonstrated by the 2001 Law on Arbitration

o Croatia, the 2006 Law on Arbitration o Serbia, the 2006 Law on International Com-

mercial Arbitration o Macedonia and the intentions or law reorm undertaken in the

other Project Countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro).

This continuous triumphal march o the UNCITRAL Model Law18, now also in the

Project Countries, is mainly explained by two actors. Firstly, the Model Law has been

ormulated as a law or international arbitration, thereby allowing countries, particu-

larly i their existing arbitration law is based on the distinction between national and

international arbitration, to only deal with the latter aspect and avoid the oten much

more onerous task o reorming the law o domestic arbitration, which tends to be more

closely tied to local concepts. And secondly, although by today’s standards certain pro-

visions o the Model Law have deserved to be modernised and supplemented since its

creation in 198519, it continues to be a most widely accepted unied regulatory model

which plays an undisputedly signicant role in the unication and internationalisation

o the system o commercial arbitration. In the given context, it is o interest to note,

though, that both the new Croatian and the new Serbian Law on Arbitration ollow

the more ambitious monistic approach, which covers both domestic and internation-

al arbitration procedures in one single act. This currently appears to be the regulatorytrend worldwide. The reorm project being implemented by Albania, on the other hand,

seems to ollow the dualistic approach by covering only international arbitration20.

An overview o the status o arbitration law reorm in the region would be incom-

plete without considering the practice with regard to ad hoc arbitration and the de-

velopments concerning institutions providing arbitral services. Due to the limitations

imposed on private arbitration in the socialist system, a tradition o ad hoc arbitration

18 By now there are already over 60 countries listed by UNCITRAL as ollowing the Model Law.

19 In 2006, the Model Law has been amended by adding Art. 2 A (interpretation in consideration o the need to

promote uniormity), by remodelling Art. 7 (orm o agreement) and by extensively revising Art. 17 (interim meas-

ures). In connection with these measures, UNCITRAL also adopted a recommendation regarding the interpreta-

tion o Art. II (2) and VII (1) o the New York Convention, the ormer regarding a less strict application o the writing

requirement or arbitration agreements, the latter regarding the application o this Article to allow a party to avail

itsel o rights it may have under the laws o the country where enorcement o the award is being sought.

20The Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration is designed to assist States in reorming and modern-

izing their laws on arbitral procedure so as to take into account the particular eatures and needs o international

commercial arbitration. It covers all stages o the arbitral process rom the arbitration agreement, the composi-

tion and jurisdiction o the arbitral tribunal and the extent o court intervention through to the recognition andenorcement o the arbitral award. It reects worldwide consensus on key aspects o international arbitration

practice having been accepted by States o all regions and the dierent legal or economic systems o the world.



24

practice cannot be expected in the Project Countries. In spite o this, with regional ar-

bitral institutions having lost their ormer status as the exclusive orm o arbitration to

be used, non-institutional arbitrations subject to UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules seem to

have gained some interest, at least or some larger cases. The UNCITRAL Arbitration

Rules have been used or the settlement o a broad range o disputes, including dis-putes between private commercial parties where no arbitral institution is involved, in-

vestor-State disputes, State-to-State disputes and commercial disputes administered by

arbitral institutions. They are recognized as o one o the most successul international

instruments o a contractual nature in the eld o arbitration. In 2006, UNCITRAL de-

cided that the Rules should be revised, to meet changes in arbitral practice over the last

thirty years. The revision is aimed at enhancing the efciency o arbitration under the

Rules and does not alter the original structure o the text, its spirit or drating style. The

UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, as revised (they are eective as o 15 August 2010), include

more provisions dealing with, amongst others, multiple parties arbitration and joinder,

liability, and a procedure to object to experts appointed by the arbitral tribunal. A num-

ber o innovative eatures contained in the Rules aim to enhance procedural efciency,

including revised procedures or the replacement o an arbitrator, the requirement or

reasonableness o costs and a review mechanism regarding the costs o arbitration.

They also include more detailed provisions on interim measures.

The system o international commercial arbitration oers parties the option o

agreeing on an arbitration procedure administered by arbitral institutions. In a review

like the present one, aimed at providing a sense or “the bigger picture”, it appears im-

portant to emphasise that, rom an international point o view, there is no lack o well-

organised reputable arbitration institutions to which the parties o sales contracts relat-

ing to the Project Countries can turn. There is the ICC International Court o Arbitration

which administers arbitrations taking place anywhere in the world, but there are also a

number o highly regarded regional arbitration centres, some o them located not ar

rom the region o the Project Countries (e.g. Vienna, Zurich, Milan), which are perectly

capable o providing the international arbitration services required.

Not to be underestimated is o course the potentially very important role o re-

gional arbitral institutions. In terms o interregional trade, knowledge o regional cus-

toms and languages, and also simple geographical proximity, which are actors likely

to be appreciated by trading partners rom outside o Southeast Europe as well, itis very important or the development o the region that there also exist reputable



26

However, while it is true that arbitral tribunals do not produce jurisprudence, it is

generally not true to say that arbitral tribunals render decisions that are not based on

the law. Individual awards, like court decisions, may o course be occasionally praeter

legem. However, when looking at published awards, at least at the level o ICC awards,

or example, it becomes apparent that they generally contain elaborated and sophis-ticated reasoning on issues o act and law. For the reader o the present paper it

would be particularly instructive to study the arbitral awards concerning legal issues

o the CISG, as reerred to in the UNCITRAL Digest.21 They are treated in the Digest as

being completely on a par with any o the court decisions cited.

It should also be noted that, in the current situation, parties to international sales

transactions might be expected to nd it attractive to arbitrate their disputes rather

than resort to the courts, not only because arbitration oers a neutral orum, but also

or reasons o procedural efciency. Arbitration oers the possibility or the parties to

appoint experts in international trade matters or in the particular trade sector as arbi-

trators, a possibility which does not exist in the case o recurrence to the state courts.

And, in view o the overload o cases in the state courts observed in all Project Countries

according to the country reports o the GTZ Project, it seems that the average length

o typical one-instance arbitration proceedings compares avourably with the length o

proceedings beore state courts.

IV. Use o ICA and CISG in the Project Countries

The ollowing considerations aim to provide a perspective on the main issues ob-

served in the ramework o the GTZ Project with regard to the implementation o CISG

and ICA in the Project Countries. The purpose here is to summarise these issues as per-

ceived in the reports drawn up by the experts rom the region and to provide an over-

view o the progress achieved since then.

21 Jernej Sekoleč, Digest o case law on the UN Sales Convention: The combined wisdom o judges and arbitratorspromoting uniorm interpretation o the Convention, in: Ferrari/Flechtner/Brand (eds.), The Drat UNCITRAL Digest

and Beyond: Cases, Analysis and Unresolved Issues in the U.N. Sales Convention, 2004, p. 1



27

1. History o membership in the CISG

It has already been noted above that all successor states to the ormer Socialist

Republic o Yugoslavia, and most recently also Albania, have acceded to the CISG.

The SFR Yugoslavia itsel ratied the Convention on 27 March 1985, which did not

become eective in Yugoslavia until 1 January 1988, due to the previously insufcient

number o ratications. The subsequent history o accession by the successor states re-

ects the history o their road to independent statehood. Croatia, by retroactive declara-

tion o 8 June 1998, joined the CISG on 8 October 1991, the day o its gaining independ-

ence. Bosnia-Herzegovina took the step to implement the CISG by domestic legislation

passed on 6 June 1992, but subsequently also led a notice o succession with the Unit-

ed Nations on 12 January 1994. For Serbia as member state o the FR o Yugoslavia, the

CISG became eective on 27 April 1992. Montenegro, gaining independence on 3 June

2006, assumed responsibility or existing treaty obligations by declaration o the same

date. And Macedonia, although it had become independent already in 1993, led its

notice o succession to the CISG on 13 November 2006.22 Albania, nally, decided to join

the CISG by unanimous parliamentary vote o 9 March 2009. The CISG came into orce

in Albania on 1 June 2010.

When looking at this somewhat complex history o successions, two interesting

conclusions may be made:

Firstly, i the question is or how much time the CISG has been a law on the books

o the countries concerned, the answer or most countries is since 1 January 1988. In

other words, in a legal sense, the Project Countries, with the exception o Albania, look

back at a comparatively long period o applicability o the CISG, comparable to that o

other European states such as France, Germany or Spain. At the same time, however,

due regard must be given to the act that the courts in the ormer Socialist Federal Re-

public o Yugoslavia probably only rarely came across cases involving international sales

transactions, due to the act that, in the socialist period, disputes on international sales

contracts were typically reerred to the arbitration system existing at the time.

22 This 15-year gap between the date o state o independence and the ling o succession is reported to havecaused uncertainties in legal doctrine and jurisprudence and to the CISG’s application to contractual relationships

ollowing in this period o “legal vacuum”.



28

Secondly, the act that all successor states to the ormer SFR Yugoslavia adopted

the CISG as part o their domestic legal system means that the CISG has now taken

the place o the ormer Yugoslav Obligations Code with regard to regulating the trade

between these countries, which used to be regulated as internal trade. That Code was

inspired, inter alia, by the two Hague Conventions on Uniorm Law or the Formationo International Sales Contracts (ULFIS) and on the Uniorm Law or Contracts o Inter-

national Sales (ULCIS). In comparison, CISG can thereore be considered a modernised

set o rules on international sales contracts which, to the extent the ormer Obligation

Code has not been changed in the countries concerned ater the disintegration o the

SFR Yugoslavia, diers rom the applicable domestic law in each country. Since June

2010 this is also true with regard to Albania, although it is understood that its Civil

Code, based on the Italian Civil Code, shows less signicant dierences to the rules o

the CISG.

2. The CISG in judicial and legal practice

The implementation o a law can be looked at in various ways – with regard to

its requency o application, the correct understanding o its provisions, as well as the

amount and quality o inormation about the law accessible to its users.

a) Frequency o application

As concerns the issue o requency o application, it has become clear in the course o

the GTZ Project that, in spite o the act that the CISG has been in orce since 1988 in most

states concerned, the CISG has appeared only comparatively rarely in court decisions and

in contractual practice. However, as ar as the inclusion o the CISG in contracts drated by

lawyers is concerned, it seems to be that the use o CISG is increasing; even with regard to

Albania where the CISG only recently came into orce, it is apparent that the big law rms

now insert the CISG as the applicable law into contracts they advise on, although some di-

erences are still to be noted.

Thus, with reerence to Croatia it is conrmed that many judges and attorneys have

had little awareness o the CISG but that now, due to the act that the Supreme Courtand the High Commercial Court have quashed or reversed a number o lower court de-



29

cisions, the trend has changed and judges have increasingly begun to apply the CISG.

Similarly, it is reported on Serbia that the judges at the High Commercial Court now

actively apply CISG and have issued a number o decisions resulting in the reversal o

lower court judgments. It appears, thereore, that, at the higher levels o the judiciary,

there is a higher degree o awareness that CISG is part o the applicable domestic law. The conclusion is thereore permitted that a situation appears to exist, at least in some

Project Countries, where some change with regard to the implementation o CISG by

the courts has begun to take place, resulting in a growing awareness o the possible

relevance o this Convention also at the level o lower courts.

As to the reasons explaining the generally low degree o awareness o the CISG

within the state judiciary in the Southeast European region, it is difcult to get a very

clear picture. What is clear, however, is that any element o non-acceptance o the rules

o the CISG on the grounds that they might be considered inadequate or incompatible

with domestic concepts o the laws on sales contracts does not play any signicant role.

Instead, it becomes obvious that there is a true lack o inormation and thereore

also understanding o the Convention and its implications, sometimes perhaps also

with a certain sense that, in view o the general overload o cases on the court docket, it

is not necessarily desirable “to complicate one’s lie” with the not well-known and unex-plained aspects o the applicability o the CISG.

It is also o interest in this context to reer to the ndings o the GTZ Project con-

cerning the status o the CISG in the curriculum o the countries’ law aculties. While

international sales contracts seem to be a subject taught everywhere, courses speci-

cally covering the CISG do not seem to have been oered so ar anywhere as part o

a regular course program. In some countries (Macedonia and Croatia, or example),

though, the study o the Convention is included in the training o judges and prosecu-

tors. And, as a more recent development in Croatia, there is now a summer program

on CISG and international arbitration, jointly organised by the Universities o Zagreb

and Pittsburgh, which was held in 2010 or the rst time. These developments may

again be taken as an indicator that matters have begun to change and that awareness

o the CISG at the level o both academia and the judiciary will increase in the uture.

Speaking o lack o awareness, it is also important to note that the majority o thecountry reports produced as part o the GTZ Project reer to a general lack o inorma-



30

tion, not only at the level o the judiciary and the attorneys dealing with the judiciary,

but also at the level o the business people concerned (e.g. report on Bosnia-Herzegovi-

na). Why do businessmen or whom the CISG has been created not know about it? This

also conrms that the general lack o implementation o the CISG in the region seems

to be mostly due to a lack o inormation about this uniorm law.

One interesting nding with regard to Serbia is to be mentioned in the present

context. The practice o the International Trade Arbitration Court attached to the Cham-

ber o Commerce o Serbia shows that, in contrast to the court practice in that country,

the CISG is well-known and widely implemented by arbitrators (more than 100 cases

in the last decade applied CISG according to research conducted). The report on Mac-

edonia also reports o two arbitration cases beore the Permanent Arbitration Court at-

tached to the Economic Chamber o the Republic o Macedonia in which the CISG was

applied. It is believed that these ndings are not simply coincidental. Rather, they seem

to conrm that the application o the CISG in the Project Countries is oremost a unc-

tion o making the administrators o justice aware o its existence and knowledgeable

about its contents.

b) Judicial interpretation o the CISG

As ar as the judicial practice o the CISG is concerned, it is obvious that the provi-

sions o the CISG dealing with its applicability seem to occupy the courts and arbitral

tribunals in the region mostly. It is o interest to note in this context that it is reported

about Croatia that it seems to be increasingly common to nd sales contracts, mostly

those originating rom English or US practice, which contain choice o law clauses ex-

cluding the application o the CISG.

The question arises here as to whether that practice, which is perectly acceptable

under Art. 6 o the Convention, is to be interpreted as a sign o a certain discomort on

the part o parties rom these areas o the world as regards the rules to be ound in the

CISG. In Germany, or example under the Civil Code beore the law reorm, such discom-

ort existed, but is now generally considered to no longer be justied and is regarded

as a matter o the past.23 With regard to the practice reported about Croatia, no reliable

23 See the most recent comparison o the rules o the CISG with Swiss and German contract law by Voser/Boog,

Die Wahl des Schweizer Rechts, was man wissen sollte, in Recht der Internationalen Wirtschat, 2009, 129 seq.



31

conclusions can be ormulated at this time as long as it is not known which law had

been chosen by the parties in place o the CISG.

I the English and US parties have been able to negotiate the applicability o their

respective laws in the cases described, such cases cannot simply be interpreted as show-ing any particular discomort with CISG, as the agreement on a particular domestic law

may actually be the result o the act that one o the parties to the deal had sufcient

leverage during negotiations to make its law the applicable law. At any rate, i the par-

ties can agree on a (neutral) domestic law or their sales contract, and at the same time

“opt out” o the CISG, they thereby also apply the rules o the Convention.

As ar as the applicability o the CISG in individual cases is concerned, the courts

seem mostly to have to grapple with the issue o private international law and its re-

lationship to the CISG. Thus, it is reported about Serbia that its courts o rst instance

have oten come to the questionable conclusion, subsequently criticised by the High

Commercial Court, that the CISG does not apply. As reported, the judges determined

the applicable law by virtue o the rules o private international law, thereby arriving at

the Serbian Code o Obligations, and thereore ignored the direct applicability o the

CISG. Similarly, it is reported with regard to Croatia that the courts there requently hold

that an express choice o the law o a Contracting State constitutes an implicit exclusiono the CISG. Likewise, a Serbian High Commercial Court decision in 2004 argued that, in

the absence o a choice o law clause, the choice o the courts o Serbia and Montenegro

taken by the parties is to be interpreted as an expression o the parties’ intention or the

laws o Serbia and Montenegro to apply (excluding any considerations as to the appli-

cability o the CISG).

In the present overview, it is not possible to analyze the persuasiveness o these deci-

sions. But it is necessary to mention these cases here as they seem to counter the prevailing

view in comparative case law and scholarly writings that the express or implicit choice o law

o a Contracting State is not tantamount to an exclusion o the applicability o the CISG i all

the other conditions or its applicability are given. Cases like the ones reported underline the

need to support the autonomous interpretation o the CISG by the courts o all Contracting

Discomort with the CISG leading to ist exclusion may o course not only exist with regard to its substantive rules

as such, but with regard to ist incompleteness, resulting in possibly split regimes with regard to issues arising. It is

not to be denied that this shortcoming o the CISG is likely to motivate sophisticated business practise relying onproessional legal advice to continue to opt out o the CISG regime and seek taylor-made solutions instead, based

on some chosen national law.



32

States by systems which allow the judges to access court decisions and legal writings rom

other countries. While at the start o the GTZ Project no court cases rom the Project Coun-

tries on the CISG were to be ound in CLOUT and in the UNCITRAL Digest, the situation has

now changed considerably. It is to be noted that 9 new cases rom Croatian courts dealing

with CISG have now been translated an published on the CLOUT database; one CISG caserom Montenegro is in the process o being published.

Other issues which are reported to have the greatest importance in decisions o

courts and arbitral tribunals are issues related to Art. 7 (interpretation), Art. 25 (unda-

mental breach o contract), Art. 38 (duty o the buyer to examine the goods), Art. 35

(non-conormity o the goods) and Art. 26 (declaration o avoidance). It is questionable

whether this list o issues is representative, due to the somewhat limited application o

the CISG by the courts in the Project Countries thus ar. However, even this limited list

reects the act that the CISG also works in the Project Countries “normally” and that,

apart rom the issue o its applicability, it does not appear to present the courts o the

region with any particular issues or difculties.

c) Amount and quality o inormation about the CISG

It is apparent rom all o the country reports that the level o inormation obtainable

on the CISG in the orm o court decisions and scholarly writing is generally very low.

The problems start with the inormation on legal matters generally obtainable

in the countries themselves. Systems o publishing court decisions, either in paper or

electronic orm, are still in development in most o the Project Countries.24 As a conse-

quence, court decisions on the CISG, or at least abstracts o them, are not published.

As it is the idea o the draters o the CISG that a mutual system o knowledge transer

operating on a worldwide basis should be established in order to improve the uniorm

application o the Convention, this raises a undamental problem i, even in the country

o origin o the decision, such decision is not made accessible to assist other judges and

lawyers in resolving other disputes involving the CISG.

The result is that access o the local judiciary, certainly at the level o the lower

courts, to sources o inormation rom abroad is thus ar quite limited. Consideration o 24 Such databases exist, according to the reports, in Croatia and in Serbia.



33

oreign jurisprudence appears to be non-existent, even with regard to jurisprudence in

neighbouring countries o the region.25 This is obviously primarily an economic issue

as the resources or building up inormation support services are lacking, but it is also

a language issue since much o the internationally available material is in English or in

the languages o the country concerned, but not translated into any o the regional lan-guages spoken in the Project Countries. This is a very unsatisactory situation and, pre-

sumably, the only valid long-term approach to this can be language training o judges

in order to enable them to read oreign language, in particular English language, legal

material.

A review o the number o scholarly publications gives a somewhat dierent im-

pression o the spread o CISG. Four o the six relevant states, which include Bosnia-Her-

zegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, have publications relating to CISG, including

a book on international commercial law with extensive coverage o CISG issues pub-

lished recently in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The two remaining states, Albania and Macedo-

nia, do not appear to have any publications relating to CISG.

Though the sheer number o publications does not appear to reect a high degree

o involvement with the issues o the CISG, it can be stated that the general existence or

the amount o publications does not seem to be a major bottleneck or the relevance o CISG in the our states.

However the importance o adequate literature concerning CISG should not be un-

derestimated. It is a signicant basis or the acceptance and the usage o CISG not only

or university education, but also as a source o inormation or proessionals (lawyers,

judges and contracting parties).

The UNCITRAL Secretariat has established a system or collecting and disseminating

inormation on court decisions and arbitral awards relating to the Conventions and Model

Laws that have emanated rom the work o the Commission. The purpose o the system

is to promote international awareness o the legal texts ormulated by the Commission

and to acilitate uniorm interpretation and application o those texts.26 While at the start

o the GTZ Project not a single decision o a court in the relevant states could be ound

in UNCITRAL’s CLOUT database, the situation has now changed signicantly. Nine cases

25 See e.g. country report on Serbia, p. 19

26 See website o UNCITRAL at http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/case_law.html.



34

rom Croatia are now listed, and more CISG decisions rom Serbia, Montenegro and Croa-

tia are in the pipeline to be translated and published in CLOUT. As mentioned above, the

uniorm application and interpretation o the provisions o CISG is an important issue to

gain acceptance and reliance or CISG and this may thereore be called a signicant devel-

opment. The system or collecting and disseminating inormation on court decisions andarbitral awards relies on a network o national correspondents designated by those States

that are parties to a Convention or have enacted legislation based on the Model Law27.

There has been appointed so ar only one national correspondent or Croatia, the recent

material provided or CLOUT was obtained trhough voluntary contribution. I the report-

ing to CLOUT is to continue to grow, more such appointments will obviously be necessary.

3. Status o legislative ramework on arbitration

In recent years, in practically all o the Project Countries, considerable eorts have

been made to establish a comprehensive and modern legal regime or allowing private

parties to settle their commercial disputes by way o arbitration.

The successor states to the ormer Socialist Federal Republic o Yugoslavia have

“inherited” membership in the New York Convention o 1958 by way o succession dec-

laration, resulting in a situation in which each o these states continues to adhere to this

Convention, which provides or the recognition o oreign arbitration agreements and

the recognition and enorcement o oreign arbitral awards. As can be gathered rom

the UNCITRAL Status Report, each o these countries, ollowing the ormer Yugoslavia,

has maintained three reservations admissible under the Convention. They will apply the

Convention only to awards made in the territory o another Contracting State, only to

dierences arising out o commercial relationships and only to those awards rendered

ater the Convention comes into orce. Albania joined the New York Convention in 2001,

without declaring any reservations.

In all countries concerned there is legislation in place providing or the implemen-

tation o the requirements o the New York Convention. It is reported with regard to

Albania, however, that in the judicial practice o this country there is some divergence

between what documents judges ask applicants to produce or the recognition and

enorcement o oreign awards on the one hand and the requirements o the New York 27 See website o UNCITRAL at: http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/case_law/national_correspondents.html



36

times ollowing the monistic approach by creating a new law or domestic and interna-

tional arbitration (Bosnia-Herzegovina 2001, Croatia 2001, Montenegro 2004, Serbia),

sometimes maintaining a dualist structure and ocusing their reorm eorts on a law or

international arbitration (Albania, Macedonia 2006). The GTZ Project’s ndings are that

some countries seem to have ollowed the UNCITRAL Model law very closely (e.g. Mac-edonia), others its principles and others its structure, but also adding new elements into

it which can be ound in the modern legislation o other European countries (Croatia,

Serbia). While, at the level o national legislation, the countries have achieved the status

o “arbitration-riendly” jurisdictions, it should also be noted that UNCITRAL has so ar

listed Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia as “Model Law Countries”.

4. Institutional arbitration activities

It appears obvious that the existing practice o arbitration in the region revolves

mainly around institutional arbitration. Figures or ad hoc arbitration are not available

and, having regard to the observed low degree o awareness o the possibility o arbitra-

tion among business people and lawyers, it is reasonably surmised that ad hoc arbitration,

with the exception o a ew large matters according to the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules,

has thus ar taken place very rarely. In view o the only recent reorms o arbitration legisla-

tion and the act that the ormer socialist times did not provide ertile ground or the es-

tablishment o an active practice o ad hoc arbitration, such ndings come as no surprise.

The ndings o the reports with regard to institutional arbitration are as ollows.

With the exception o Croatia, the comparatively low degree o the use o arbitration in-

stitutions by domestic and international parties is noteworthy. Institutional arbitration

centres with pre-ormulated rules which administer (national and) international arbi-

tration continue to exist or have been newly established in most o the Project Coun-

tries. Typically, they are established as permanent courts attached to the International

Chamber o Commerce as its parent organisation (Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro).

In Serbia the ormer arbitration institution o the socialist Yugoslavia competent or dis-

putes involving oreign parties continues to exist under the name o the Foreign Trade

Arbitration Court (attached to the Serbian Chamber o Commerce), while in Albania a

new organization under the name o MEDART, the Albania Commercial Mediation and

Arbitration Centre, was set up in 2004

31

with the assistance o the World Bank.31

Email: [email protected].



37

Reliable statistics about the number o cases dealt with in regional arbitration in-

stitutions are not currently available. Bosnia-Herzegovina’s arbitration court attached to

the Chamber o Commerce does not seem to have become operative yet. According to

unofcial inormation, Albania’s MEDART Centre, or example, is said to have dealt with

up to now 15 to 30 cases o arbitration in total. The Serbian Court o Arbitration is saidto administer approximately 25 to 30 new cases annually, all o them international in

nature. In 2009, around 100 new cases were brought beore the Croatian Arbitral Centre,

o which about 40 were international cases. It is also reported that many new mediation

cases have been initiated and completed in Croatia (no gures are made available).

In the overview given here, it is submitted that in a world o competing arbitral

institutions, some o them having been in existence or many years and enjoying a very

high reputation, with others at an early stage o their development, it comes as no sur-

prise that it will take time or the recently established arbitral institutions in the Project

Countries to gain the condence o the parties concerned. To the extent that oreign

parties are involved in the transactions, it seems likely that or reasons o condence

they will continue to insist on having their disputes hosted by long-established institu-

tions or the settlement o any disputes. The relatively low number o cases observed

to have been handled so ar by the arbitral institutions in the region could thereore be

much more a measure o their international competitive position in the world o arbitralcentres, rather than being the consequence o a lack o knowledge and a lack o promo-

tion o the new possibilities o arbitration, as some o the reports suggest.

One more detailed observation to illustrate this point is to be made here. Both the

Permanent Arbitration Court o the Croatian Chamber o Commerce and the Foreign

Trade Court o Arbitration attached to the Serbian Chamber o Commerce maintain, as

seems to be the general approach o arbitral institutions in the region, lists o arbitra-

tors (domestic and oreign) rom which the parties can select their arbitrator(s) to be

appointed or their individual dispute. With regard to the Croatian institution, the report

explains that “in both international and domestic cases, parties may appoint arbitrators

who do not appear on the list”. With regard to the institution in Serbia, on other hand,

the respective report explains that the proposal to appoint an arbitrator not included

in the list requires the approval o the Board o the Foreign Trade Court o Arbitration

and that only an arbitrator included in the List o Arbitrators may act as chairman or sole

arbitrator anyway.



38

There is a dierence in the rules o arbitration, in this case on the important

issue o which arbitrator to choose, which may very well make the dierence or

a party, domestic or oreign, to decide or or against the use o a certain arbitral

institution. In practice, o course, many more considerations than just the wording

o one particular type o rules come into play. Obviously, many actors explain thesuccess o an arbitral institution. The low number o arbitration cases handled by

local institutions as reported in the country survey are thereore not a reliable ele-

ment to measure the attractiveness o arbitration generally or parties (domestic

and oreign) which engage in commercial transactions, including sales contracts, in

the region.

While the numbers o international disputes handled by arbitral institutions in the

region as indicated in the country reports do not allow or a negative conclusion with

regard to the acceptability o arbitration or international business, but may actually

be considered rather encouraging, at least when looking at the example o Croatia, the

question o the attitude o local business to arbitration remains open. Most, i not all,

reports state that they have ound local business people to be hesitant towards, and in

some cases ignorant o, arbitration in the belie that arbitration is a mechanism o dis-

pute resolution which is only suitable or high-value international disputes. At its core,

there is some truth in this view. Not all cross-border transactions, i they are small andsimple, necessarily justiy calling on an institution and appointing a highly qualied ar-

bitrator, oten rom another country, to resolve the dispute in a “neutral” location. But

there is no reason to believe why, in particular, arbitral institutions in the region which

are geographically close to the parties and can work on a low-cost basis should not be

able to administer cases involving relatively low values. There are many arbitral institu-

tions which have developed such a capability and even institutions known or handling

the most complex and high value matters, such as the ICC, also deal with a surprisingly

high number o smaller matters. 32

In so ar as the development o trade within the region is concerned, thereore, in-

creased consideration should be given to promoting arbitration as a means o dispute

settlement or small and medium-sized matters and to ocusing the regional arbitral

institutions’ market orientations and services accordingly.

32 According to the 2007 Statistical Report, 3% o the cases involved less than 50,000 US dollars while 11,3% o the

cases involved up to 200,000 US dollars at stake.



39

With the exception o Albania, there do not seem to be any particular lack o legal

practitioners with experience in arbitration in Southeast Europe. The lists o arbitrators

maintained with the arbitral institutions indicate that academics, practicing attorneys

and in-house counsels engage in the practice o arbitration. It is known that a number

o them appear in international arbitrations abroad, or example in ICC proceedings,proceedings at the Vienna International Arbitration Centre, ICSID, etc. In 2007, the ICC

appointed 4 arbitrators rom the area. While this number is low, and perhaps an indica-

tion that ICC proceedings are not oten used in the region, it nevertheless shows that the

“arbitration community” within the Project Countries stays connected with the world’s

international arbitration practice. I the issue becomes to “popularize” arbitration in the

region, it is obvious that many more arbitration practitioners will be required.

5. Arbitration in judicial and legal practice

Judges tend to be seized with the typical issues o arbitration law, concerning is-

sues such as the validity o the arbitration agreement, reerral o parties to arbitration

in case o a party objecting to court proceedings, actions or setting aside domestic

awards and actions or the recognition and enorcement o oreign awards.

Two ndings with regard to judges dealing with these issues seem to be pertinent.

In a number o instances (Croatia, Serbia), it is clear that the courts generally pay due

attention to the requirements o the New York Convention regarding the recognition

and enorcement o oreign awards; reassuringly, it is also apparent that the courts, in

contrast to courts in some other countries, rerain rom unduly widening the concept

o public policy in order to nd additional and unjustied grounds or rejecting the en-

orcement o oreign awards.

It is o interest to note in this context that the countries concerned seem to have

taken rather dierent approaches with regard to the issue o the concentration o court

competence or arbitration matters. While in Croatia, or example, proceedings or the

annulment o an award can go through several instances, rom the Commercial Court

to the High Commercial Court and to the Supreme Court, in Macedonia, on the other

hand, only one court, the Court o First Instance Skopje II, is competent to hear matters

relating to arbitration proceedings.



40

There is no reliable data available on the use o arbitration clauses by legal practi-

tioners in the contracts on which they advise. Generally speaking, however, the thesis

can be maintained that, since the beginning o the GTZ Project, according to inorma-

tion provided by practicing attorneys, commercial contracts in the region tend to in-

clude arbitration clauses more requently than beore. This can be concluded on thebasis o the reports o the regional legal experts as well as by GTZ’s own survey o legal

practitioners dealing with contract drating in Southeast Europe.

6. Relevance o ICA at universities/judges training courses

Although the country reports produced in the ramework o the GTZ Project deal

only generally with the role o international commercial arbitration in university teach-ing, it becomes clear that the law o arbitration orms part o the curriculum practically

everywhere, including in Albania. As a regularly required subject, however, it appears to

be taught only as part o courses on civil procedure, private international law or inter-

national commercial law. More recently, it also seems to be oered in most cases as a

separate optional subject or advanced students.

The Vienna Willem Vis Moot Court Competition, which has played a signicant role

in promoting the topic o international commercial arbitration at universities worldwide

is an event at which student teams rom Croatia and Serbia now participate regularly.

In 2010, student teams rom Macedonia and Montenegro also participated. One o the

conclusions o the GTZ Project’s Regional Roundtable o March 2010 in Belgrade was to

encourage experts on arbitration law rom other countries in the region to undertake

eorts to have students rom their universities to take part in this competition. The re-

ports o this roundtable also give inormation on the availability o textbooks in local

languages (e.g. in the Serbian language) which likewise demonstrates that academic

teaching in the region is increasingly covering the subject nowadays. This can be ex-

pected to signicantly increase the arbitration knowledge o uture judges and practic-

ing attorneys.

Somewhat in contrast to the intensity and breadth o the teaching o arbitration

at university level seems to be the treatment o the subject in terms o judges’ training.

Most o the training o judges in the area o arbitration law, with perhaps some excep-tions such as Albania, does not seem to take place regularly.



41

V. Results achieved and lessons learned

The GTZ Project, as the above account demonstrates, encountered a situation

in the Project Countries which was generally characterized by shortcomings in the

implementation o both CISG and ICA. Lack o material resources, weak structures atthe level o the judiciary and teaching institutions, and limited inormation o entre-

preneurs, lawyers and a signiicant shortall o cooperation between public and pri-

vate institutions across the Southeast European region are all actors which explain

this situation. At the same time, the GTZ Project has achieved some progress with its

measures and a number o developments have become apparent which justiy the

expectation that the CISG and ICA will indeed play a beneicial role in the region in

the uture. The most signiicant o these developments are as ollows:

All Project Countries have become members o the CISG. The last missing country

was Albania, which joined by parliamentary decision o 9 March 2009, meaning that

CISG has also become the law or international sales contracts there with eect o 1 June

2010. It should be noted in this regard that the parliamentary vote was unanimous, in-

dicating that, at the political level, the importance o adopting the CISG has been ully

recognised.

While the courts in the Project Countries generally do not oten deal with the CISG

in their decisions, which reects a rare use o this law and a limited awareness o contract-

ing parties and their lawyers o the existence and benets o this law, there are a number

o developments indicating that this situation has begun to change, at least in a number

o the countries concerned. In the meantime, and as o now 9 court cases rom Croatia

have been translated and published in the UNCITRAL’s CLOUT database, which represents

a signicant step orward or a region which was not represented in the CLOUT system

at all at the beginning o the GTZ Project. More CISG cases rom the region have been

prepared or publication. they are rom Serbia and Montenegro and at the date o this

report they are being integrated in the database. Furthemore, a ew unpublished Croatian

decisions related to the UNCITRAL MAL are expected to be available in December2010/

January 2011. Inormation rom Serbia and Croatia also indicates that the judges in these

countries have become more aware o the CSIG. Thus, there is a case reported in Croatia

where a lower court decision has been quashed or ailure to apply the CSIG. Moreover,

there is ample evidence that arbitral tribunals o the Serbian Arbitral Court and o theCroatian Arbitral Institution regularly apply the CSIG in international cases.



42

Figures on the number o cases handled by regional arbitration institutions, to the

extent they are available, reect a rather uneven development, with only some centres,

in particular that o Croatia, apparently proting rom the general surge in legal disputes

developing in the atermath o the global nancial crisis o 2008/2009. There are, however,

some signs that the reservation, or perhaps rather lack o inormation, o lawyers and theirparties regarding the use o arbitration in international commercial contracts is slowly

waning. The country experts o the GTZ Project could in part conrm a possible increased

use o arbitration clauses in contracts o signicance and the GTZ sta itsel conducted

an inquiry among law rms which resulted in the conrmation o more than 10 contracts

having been negotiated during the period o the GTZ Project which included an arbitra-

tion agreement. This is not an impressive gure and the gure as such has more o a repre-

sentative value. A systematic scanning o contracts in the region, provided it were easible,

might unearth a ar higher number o contracts containing arbitration clauses. But the

results o this limited inormal inquiry can nevertheless be taken as a sign o encourage-

ment that, at the level o lawyers advising businesses in the region, the message as to the

advantages o arbitration or international transactions has been taken on board.

Another indicator o a growing awareness in the region o the possible benets

o the CISG and o ICA is the rising requency o conerences on these subjects in the

region and the increased involvement o lawyers, judges and students in such events.While any signicant increase in regular courses at universities or judges training acad-

emies has not yet become apparent, it cannot be overlooked that the number o events

in the region relating to arbitration/mediation and/or the CSIG has risen signicantly.

Prominent in this regard is the yearly international conerence and the Willem Vis Pre-

Moot organized by the Belgrade Law Faculty, both academic events which are attend-

ed by a growing number o lawyers and students rom the region. The 2010 summer

course organized by the Universities o Zagreb and Pittsburgh is another case in point.

It is rightully to be expected that the students rom the region who participate in such

events will go on to be the legal practitioners who will be amiliar with the instrument

o international arbitration and who will not hesitate to plead cases on the basis o the

CISG.

A start in the right direction has been made by the GTZ Project, and it has been

made with some tangible results, but it is also clear that more work or the ully devel-

oped implementation o CISG and ICA in Southeast Europe needs to be done. What canbe observed, and this is perhaps the most important achievement o the GTZ Project,



43

is that it has assisted in setting in motion a process in the region by which the regional

players themselves have become increasingly active in promoting the implementation

o CISG and ICA and in improving that regional cooperation. In November 2010, the

CISG Advisory Council will meet and an accompanying conerence will be held in Bel-

grade. Contacts between the law aculties o the Universities o Belgrade, Skopje, BanjaLuke Tirana, Zagreb and Podgonica have been established and intensied, and, together

with the arbitration centres, chambers o commerce and universities o some countries

acting as supporting institutions, plans are now being discussed or launching a more

general initiative or the improved implementation o instruments o ADR, including

o the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, the UNCITRAL

Arbitration Rules, the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation

(2002), the UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules and other ADR instruments.

Thus, as can been seen, activities at various levels have been initiated and have

begun to develop their own dynamics.

It is not realistic to expect rapid changes. To make legal proessionals and busi-

ness people in the region amiliar with international commercial arbitration and the e-

ects o the application o CISG in contractual relations is an educational and thereore

extended process which can bear ruit only ater a considerable amount o time haselapsed, in which these themes have been promoted and inormation has been ad-

equately dispensed in the region. Obviously, more and better cooperation between the

arbitral institutions and the Chambers o Commerce in the region needs to be achieved.

And judges in the region need to be oered more training on CISG and ICA. I all these

eorts continue, it can be condently expected that political decision-makers, judges,

lawyers and entrepreneurs in Southeast Europe will all see the benets to be derived

rom the use o CISG and ICA as a direct consequence.



44

VI. Reerences or urther inormation

1. Inormation on CISG

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) http://www.unci-

tral.org

UNCITRAL Digest

www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/case_law/digests/cisg.html

Pace Law School - Institute o International Commercial Law: Database on the CISG

and

International Commercial Law

http://www.cisg.law.pace.eduhttp://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/

http://cisg.law.pace.ede/cisg/links.html

UNILEX – Collection o international case law

http://www.unilex.ino

Lutz, Henning- The CISG and Common Law Courts: Is there really a problem?

http://www.austlii.edu.au/nz/journals/VUWLRev/2004/28.html

Schlechtriem, Peter – Basic structures and general Concepts o the CISG as models or

a harmonization o the law o obligations

http://www.juridica.ee/get_doc.php?id=880

Institute or International Trade Law o the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

http://www.law.kuleuven.ac.be/int/tradelaw/WK/WKhome.html

Institute o Foreign and International Law o Freiburg University

http://www.jura.uni-reiburg.de/ipr1/cisg

Saarbrücken University

http://www.jura.uni-sb.de/FB/LS/Witz/cisg.htm CISG Austria

http://ww.cisg.at/

CISG Switzerland

http://131.152.131.200/

CISG Spain

http://www.uc3m.es/cisg

CLOUT (Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts),

http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/case_law.html?l=899&lng=en



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2. Inormation on ICA

KluwerArbitration - Online service or international arbitration

http://www.kluwerarbitration.com

HG.org – worldwide legal directories

http://www.hg.org/arbitration.html

International Commercial Arbitration: Resources in Print and Electronic Format

http://www2.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/intlarb.html

ICCA - International Council or Commercial Arbitration

http://www.arbitration-icca.org/index.html

Lex Mercatoria: International Commercial Arbitration

http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/arbitration/toc.html WWW Virtual Library Arbitration Database

http://interarb.com/vl/

ADIC - Arbitration Documentation and Inormation Centre

http://www.adic-germany.de/

The International Arbitration Planner

http://www.arbitrationevents.com/public/deault.aspx

DIS - Deutsche Institution ür Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit

http://www.dis-arb.de/

ICC (International Chamber o Commerce, Paris) - International Court o Arbitration

http://www.iccwbo.org/court/arbitration/

LCIA - The London Court o International Arbitration

http://www.lcia-arbitration.com/

SCC Institute - The Arbitration Institute o the Stockholm Chamber o Commerce

http://www.sccinstitute.com/uk/Home/

ASA - Swiss Arbitration Organization

http://www.arbitration-ch.org/

AAA - American Arbitration Association

http://www.adr.org/

HKIAC - Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre

http://www.hkiac.org/HKIAC/HKIAC_English/main.html

ASIL - The American Society o International Law

http://www.asil.org/arb1.cm International Arbitral Centre o the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber



46

http://www.wko.at/arbitration/

UNCITRAL International Commercial Arbitration and Conciliation

http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/uncitral_texts/arbitration.html

CLOUT (Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts),

http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/case_law.html?l=899&lng=en



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Implementation of Cisg and of the System of International Commercial Arbitration in Southeast Europe

Documents

Transcript of Implementation of Cisg and of the System of International Commercial Arbitration in Southeast Europe