China’s Withdrawal of Article 96 of the CISG: A Roadmap for the United States and China to Reconsider Withdrawing the Article 95 Reservation

Authors

Pan Zhen

Document Type

Comment

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) was created for the purpose of providing legal neutrality and certainty, and also for the purpose of avoiding choice of law issues in international sales of goods. However, the United States and China, the two largest trading nations in the world, made the Article 95 reservation at the time they ratified the CISG, therefore restricting CISG’s applicability in certain situations. In 2013, China withdrew its Article 96 reservation, which declares its non-recognition of free form of contract formation, taking one step closer to the vast majority of CISG Contracting States. The reasons behind this withdrawal suggest that China will likely withdraw the Article 95 reservation in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, there are additional grounds convincing the U.S. to withdraw its Article 95 reservation. In order to develop uniform legal regimes governing international sales, both the U.S. and China, as major trading countries, should withdraw their respective reservation on the Article 95 (made in 1988) and promote CISG’s application with full acceptance.

Recommended Citation

Pan Zhen, China’s Withdrawal of Article 96 of the CISG: A Roadmap for the United States and China to Reconsider Withdrawing the Article 95 Reservation, 25 U. MIA Bus. L. Rev. 141 (2016)
Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umblr/vol25/iss1/6