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

Franco Ferrari *

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.

Professor Franco Ferrari, in his article ‘Brief Remarks on Electronic Contracting and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG)’, focuses on the issue of whether CISG can be applied and is suited to apply to contracts concluded electronically. Franco Ferrari addresses the applicability of CISG to electronic contracting by examining the internationality of such contracts. He compares electronic contracts for the sale of tangible goods with those for the sale of virtual goods, such as software licenses, and considers whether the CISG is applicable to either or both such types of contract. Having considered the applicability of the CISG, Professor Ferrari also considers the appropriateness of the CISG to the substantive issues in such contracts.

*    Professor of Law, University of Bologna, Italy.