Cross Border Legal Issues Dialogue Seminar Series – ‘From Certainty to Uncertainty – CISG in Hong Kong’ by Prof. Poomintr Sooksripaisarnkit (Online, 29 September 2022)

The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Comparative and Transnational Law is organising the seminar From Certainty to Uncertainty – CISG in Hong Kong

On 29th September 2021 at 12:30–2:00pm (Hong Kong Time), the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passed the Sale of Goods (United Nations Convention) Ordinance (Cap. 641) in order to give effect to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (Vienna, 1980) (CISG). The Ordinance is expected to come into force at some points in 2022. While the CISG seems like a successful international treaty with (currently) 94 State Parties, yet it is not uncommon for international commercial parties to in fact “opt out” or exclude its application as per the mechanism provided for in Article 6. Not all provisions in the CISG are written in a clear manner. Certain concepts contained therein are unfamiliar to lawyers trained in the common law legal tradition. This seminar is to argue that the decision to introduce the CISG into Hong Kong was in fact the decision to introduce uncertainty into an area of law which was once certain with well-supported statutes, case law authorities grounded upon the solid common law foundation, and advanced private international law and dispute resolution mechanisms.

About the speaker:

Dr Poomintr Sooksripaisarnkit is a Lecturer in Maritime Law within the Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania. He is also holding a position of a Research Associate within the Research Centre for Private International Law in Emerging Countries, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Supporting Member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association. His research interests lie in commercial conflict of laws (private international law), insurance law, private aspects of admiralty and maritime law, carriage of goods by sea, international sale of goods carried by sea, and aspects of international arbitration. His recent publications include: Poomintr Sooksripaisarnkit and Dharmita Prasad (eds), Blurry Boundaries of Public and Private International Law: Towards Convergence or Divergent Still (Springer Nature 2022), Poomintr Sooksripaisarnkit and Sai Ramani Garimella (eds), Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (Thomson Reuters Hong Kong Limited 2019), Poomintr Sooksripaisarnkit and Sai Ramani Garimella (eds), China’s One Belt One Road Initiative and Private International Law (Routledge 2018)

CPD credit is available upon application and subject to accreditation by the Law Society of Hong Kong (currently pending).