Japan Accedes to CISG
We do not usually report on uniform law, but Japan was one of the few major trading powers which had not acceded to the CISG.
The report of the United Nations Information Service is here.
Is the UK next?
We do not usually report on uniform law, but Japan was one of the few major trading powers which had not acceded to the CISG.
The report of the United Nations Information Service is here.
Is the UK next?
No, it is not.
As someone who has argued that the CISG was not necessarily a good idea, and indeed was probably more costly than beneficial, I am certainly not submitting that the UK should accede.
Now, what has been interesting in the debate over the usefulness of the CISG has been that some have argued that the UK or Japan might have decided not to join because they were not convinced of the benefits they would get from it. It would be interesting to know why Japan has suddenly decided to join, and why the UK will not.
According to Hiroo Sono in his article, “Japan’s Accession to the CISG: The Asia Factor” (2008) ZJapanR / J.Japan.L 195 at 198-200 (available online at: :
http://www.law.usyd.edu.au/anjel/documents/ZJapanR/ZJapanR25/ZJapanR25_15_Sono.pdf
“As I reported at the outset, Japan has reversed its course and is now preparing to accede to the CISG. What brought about this change? The most direct reason is that the congested legislative agenda have somewhat cleared and the MOJ [Ministry of Justice’ is now able to devote their manpower to this task again.
A more indirect reason, but an equally important one, is the phenomenal success of
the CISG… And then further, the MOJ has now started working on the revision of the Obligations Law of the Civil Code.That decision was made in order to adapt the Code to the social and economic change that took place since its enactment more than a century ago.
However, this decision was also stimulated either directly or indirectly in part by the success of the CISG. It is only natural that the CISG will have impact on this upcoming
revision…The major trading companies are also beginning to change their attitude toward the CISG, now that they have discovered that the CISG is being used in a large part of the world. They are finding out that the CISG can curtail costs of dealing with diverse domestic laws, as well as transactions costs associated with negotiating choice-of-law clauses…
These changes in the business environment are in large part due to the growth of the Asian market.”
See also, Noboru Kashiwagi, Accession by Japan to the Vienna Sales Convention (CISG)available online at:
http://www.law.usyd.edu.au/anjel/documents/ZJapanR/ZJapanR25/ZJapanR25_16_Kashiwagi.pdf
“They are finding out that the CISG can curtail costs of dealing with diverse domestic laws, as well as transactions costs associated with negotiating choice-of-law clause”
I hope for those “major trading companies” that they have indeed seriously investigated whether they would save transaction costs, and are not merely repeating what they have seen written elsewhere by people who never conducted any empirical study.