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On the basis of the central commercial importance of contracts of sale and the impressive and steadily growing list of ratifications (97 States), the CISG Convention must be regarded as the most significant piece of substantive contract legislation in effect at the international level. This (2024) update of the CISG Chapter in the International Encyclopedia of Laws covers significant new CISG material and sources up to December 2023.

Observing the phenomenon of the translation of statutory texts in China, it is noteworthy that the source language was mainly German until after the plethoric legislation under Deng Xiaoping. Then the pendulum swung back. Chinese is now the source language and statutes are translated into English.What is for a Chinese Court the legal value of the translation of a legal text, for instance of a disposition of the Civil Code? A difference has to be made between an authentic translation, and an official or a private one. Only in the hypothesis that both language versions are authentic, the court will have the obligation to reconcile them in case of divergence between them.For a court having to apply a particular disposition of a statute in a pending case – or for an arbitrator, a legal counsel or a scholar – the practical value of a translation is that the interpretation by the translator himself of the text which has to be translated (even a non-authentic translation), can influence and facilitate their subsequent interpretations by others. If made timely, it could also help the legislator to draft a clearer final text. The same is true for the drafter of a treaty or of a commercial contract.The obvious negative aspect of a translation is that it can contain errors and can by consequence create confusion and misunderstanding by those who later on will have to apply the disposition. Some examples hereof can be found in the Chinese Civil Code.Two recommendations can in conclusion be made, one concerning the moment of the translation, and one concerning a desirable supervision by a comparative lawyer during the translation process.

Sometimes contracting parties or a third party want to modify the content of a contract while still maintain the existence of the contract. This raises the question as to what types of changes can be made while maintaining the existence of the contract. We came to the conclusion that some changes are by nature incompatible with the maintenance of the existence of the contract, i.e. the addition or removal of essential elements of the contract resulting in its requalification and the replacement of essential contractual elements. Our second research question addressed when and under what conditions one of the contracting parties or a third party can unilaterally modify the contract? The unilateral variation is, in principle, prohibited. However, a number of exceptions to this rule exist. First, we think of the unilateral modification clauses. Such clauses are valid provided they do not exceed the limitations imposed by the legislator. In the absence of a unilateral modification clause, a unilateral variation is only possible in a limited number of cases. A first example is the possibility for the principal or the client to unilaterally remove elements respectively from the agency or service contracts. Another example is the possibility for the franchisor to unilaterally change the commercial concept on which the franchise is based. Finally, faced with difficulties that require an urgent modification of the contract, the agent and the service provider can unilaterally change the service to be provided if they cannot consult respectively the principal and the client in advance. In the absence of a faculty of unilateral variation, good faith provides relief to the party seeking a contract modification. Indeed, the moderating and complementary effects of good faith can, in some cases, compel one of the contracting parties to accept a proposed modification and prohibit it from seeking the unmodified performance of the contract. Like the unilateral variation, the modificat, (DROI - Sciences juridiques) -- UCL, 2022

On the basis of the central commercial importance of contracts of sale and the impressive and steadily growing list of ratifications (more than 90 States), the CISG Convention must be regarded as the most significant piece of substantive contract legislation in effect at the international level.

A complete and well-documented review of contract law in China. This in-depth introduction to the law of contracts of Mainland China was written for Western lawyers who have contacts with the People’s Republic of China, for scholars and students of comparative law or of Sinology. As stated above the book is merely an introduction, not a technical legal treatise for specialised private lawyers. It is therefore useful for businessmen too. Without using stale language, this work also places the law of contractual obligations in an historical and socio-political context. It sketches, besides the general theory of contractual obligations and the provisions on the several specific contracts, the Chinese case law on international sales contracts, as well as the law on the dispute resolution. It can be said that with regard to the private law the book opens a window on the continental Chinese legal culture, as Zweigert and Kötz would call it. An essential handbook for all lawyers who wish to be fully involved in international relationships ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jacques H. Herbots devoted his PhD thesis to African law. Thereafter, for many years he taught contracts, obligations and comparative law at the renowned university of Louvain. Besides his main tasks as a professor, he kept feeling the pulse of the living law as a deputy judge, as an assessor in the Belgian Council of State and as a member of the High Council for the Judiciary. He is currently still arbitrator in the Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation, and he was appointed to the panel of the CIETAC in Beijing. Ever since a visit to the People’s Republic in 1974, one may safely say he has been fascinated by the Empire of the Middle.

On the basis of the central commercial importance of contracts of sale and the impressive and steadily growing list of ratifications (more than 90 States), the CISG Convention must be regarded as the most significant piece of substantive contract legislation in effect at the international level.

On the basis of the central commercial importance of contracts of sale and the impressive and steadily growing list of ratifications (more than 80 States), the CISG Convention must be regarded as the most significant piece of substantive contract legislation in effect at the international level.