Towards a New Cisg: The Prospective Convention on the International Sale of Goods and Services

In "Towards a New CISG," Leandro Tripodi discusses the aging and need for renovation of the 1980 Vienna Sales Convention. Changes in global political circumstances and to the economy of international sales of goods have rendered the 1980 CISG a dated legal instrument. Its recognized flexibility is not sufficient to cope with past and, especially, with future changes brought about by the introduction of new technologies affecting all kinds of goods subject to trade. In light of the challenges posed by 21st-century commerce, Dr. Tripodi proposes the adoption of a Convention on the International Sale of Goods and Services (CISGS). The idea of a new convention is based on the following facts: 1) goods and services are no longer as distinguishable as they were in 1980; 2) sales of goods and sales (i.e., the provision) of services are not as easy to apportion as the CISG supposes and can hardly continue to be treated separately by the legal sources of international trade.