Formation of Contracts Under the Cısg and in a Comparative Law Perspective
Viyana Satım Sözleşmesi Çerçevesinde ve Karşılaştırmalı Hukuk Açısından Sözleşmenin Kurulması
Fatma Esra GÜZELOĞLU
The CISG indisputably enjoys an ever-growing acknowledgment within the world of international trade. One of the main characteristics of the CISG is the formation regime stipulated therein. The paper shall focus on the subject through a comparative law perspective and aim at examining most debated questions that have arisen in relation to Part II of the Convention, such as the interaction between Articles 14 and 55, irrevocability of an offer and when an offer and acceptance gain effectiveness, keeping in mind the fact that the Convention was a “compromise” between multiple legal systems. The work shall also include a detailed analysis of the significance of Part I of the Convention for the contract formation regime. Moreover, considering that the CISG has been drafted almost forty years ago, it shall be examined whether or not it is capable of effectively governing the disputes which may arise in relation to formation of international sales contracts in today’s business scheme, whereby particular emphasis shall be put on the contemporary questions which have arisen due to the development of new means of communication.
UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, The Vienna Sales Convention, Formation of Contracts, Formation of Contracts Under English Law, Formation of Contracts Under Turkish Law, Offer and Acceptance, Formation of Contracts Through Electronic Communications, Comparative Law.
Kuşkusuz ki Uluslararası Satım Sözleşmelerine İlişkin Birleşmiş Milletler Antlaşması (CISG), uluslararası ticaret dünyasında gittikçe artan bir kabul ile karşılanmaktadır. CISG’nin önemli bölümlerinden biri de içinde barındırdığı sözleşmenin kurulması rejimidir. Bu makale, ilgili konuyu karşılaştırmalı hukuk açısından ve II. Kısım’a ilişkin çokça tartışılan; Madde 14 ve Madde 55’in ilişkisi, önerinin geri alınamadığı haller ve öneri ve kabulün hüküm doğurduğu an gibi konuları ele almayı hedeflemektedir. Bu süreçte Antlaşma’nın birden fazla hukuk sisteminin “uzlaştırılması” olduğu dikkate alınacaktır. Bununla beraber Antlaşmanın I. Kısmında yer alan kuralların sözleşmenin kurulması rejimi üzerindeki etkisi ve önemi irdelenecektir. Ayrıca CISG’nin neredeyse 40 yıl önce kaleme alındığı düşünüldüğünde, günümüz ticari hayatında oluşabilecek uluslararası sözleşmelerin kurulmasına ilişkin ihtilafları çözmeye yeterli olup olmadığı; özellikle yeni iletişim araçlarının gelişimi ile ortaya çıkan çeşitli sorular açısından incelenecektir.
Uluslararası Satım Sözleşmelerine İlişkin Birleşmiş Milletler Antlaşması, Viyana Satım Sözleşmesi, Sözleşmenin Kurulması, İngiliz Hukuku’nda Sözleşmenin Kurulması, Türk Hukuku’nda Sözleşmenin Kurulması, Öneri ve Kabul, Elektronik İletişim Kanallarıyla Sözleşmenin Kurulması, Karşılaştırmalı Hukuk.
1. INTRODUCTION
Today, unifying of business laws on a transnational level has become an essential necessity rather than a “mere objective” when due regard is given to the immense growth in the international business transactions, with players spread all around the world. Just to illustrate the enormity of the increase in the volume of international dealings; one may take Turkey as an example where the statistics reveal that the volume of foreign trade has grown significantly over the last decades. Such that, the amount of foreign trade which was only around $ 137.5 Million USD1 in 1923 has grown into almost $ 11 Billion USD2 in 1980. Said number had continued to vastly escalate; adding up to around $ 35 Billion USD3 in 1990 and to almost $ 400 Billion USD4 in 2014.5 The numbers expose the truth: the world of business has never been as rapidly-growing and international as it is today. Hence, it was questionable, whether or not; the laws have been able to catch up with that speed and internationalism. Indeed in the 19th century, the present conflict of laws methods were inadequate to tackle complex issues born out of international sale of goods contracts. Additionally, large number of national systems, at that time, presented obsoleteness, incompleteness and inadequacy to address international business dealings, as they were designed to govern pre-industrial economy and not the “new emerging economy and commercial traffic based on the sale of complex manufactured industrial goods that needed to be transported to distant places, that resort to also to ancillary transactions such as financing payment arrangements, insurance, transport contracts and guarantees”.6
When the dramatic change between the business yesterday and the business today is taken into consideration, it is clearly seen that each step taken towards achieving a unified codification on the international business law is of paramount importance in terms of providing parties a neutral, familiar and most importantly “efficient” legal infrastructure where they can safely carry out their transactions. In such a legal environment, business people can find the opportunity to focus on the business itself, instead of losing unnecessary amount of time trying to find an effective legal framework according to which both parties can feel confident to do business. Exactly this goal in mind, first attempts towards the drafting of the (hereinafter “CISG” or the “Convention”) were slowly but steadily initiated.7
The CISG’s foundation steps can be traced back to 1920’s when the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) has decided to take on a task of preparing a legal instrument for the sake of unifying law on the international sale of goods under the umbrella of the League of Nations.8 However, such unification attempt was interrupted by the Second World War which, therefore, prolonged the process up until the early 1960’s when such endeavors finally led to the adoption of two uniform laws as at a diplomatic conference held at the Hague in 1964; one being the Convention Relating to a Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods (hereinafter the “ULIS”) and the other being the Convention Relating to a Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (hereinafter the “ULF”) (together “1964 Hague Conventions”).9
