Brief Remarks on Electronic Contracting and the United Nation’s Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG)

Sieg Eiselen *

This article is associated with the conference hosted by the Vienna International Arbitral Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (VIAC) and the Moot Alumni Association, ‘Electronic Commerce and its Growing Importance in Law and Business’ which was held in Vienna, Austria on 22 March 2002.

The CISG’s ability to deal with modern electronic business communications such as e-mail and Internet ‘click-wrap’ terms and conditions (which did not exist at the time of the CISG’s drafting) is considered by Professor Sieg Eiselen in ‘E-Commerce and the CISG:  Formation, Formalities and Validity’.  By analysing the CISG and the UNCITRAL Model Laws of 1996 and 2001, Professor Eiselen addresses the requirements for such agreements to be valid and effective, the need for compliance with formalities, and the extent of party autonomy in this regard.

*    Professor, University of South Africa, Pretoria.