Summary International Business Awareness - Law

International Business Awareness – Law
Week 1 – Kick-Off lecture
I – Contract Law Basic
A contract is an agreement, made between two or more parties which is legally binding on them. A
contract is made up of three parts:
1. Offer  a proposal made on certain terms bij the offeror, with a promise to be bound by that
proposal, if the offeree accept the term  Capacity to contract
2. Acceptance  the unconditional agreement to ALL the terms on the offer  Legal intent
3. Consideration  the content of the exchange promises  Legal content




A contract is breached if one of the parties breaks one or more of the terms of the contract. The law
provides legal remedies if a promise is breached, which makes things right for the person who has
been wronged. The innocent party can take court action and claim (among other things):
- Damages
- Specific performance
- Avoidance (repudiation)

II - CISG
Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG)
What is the CISG? It provides parties from different countries the same contract law to rely on. In a
dispute between parties in Member States the CISG applies directly. This means that is uniformity
and gives clarity. No domestic laws play a role in this.

Art. 1 CISG “This Convention applies to contracts of sale of goods between parties whose place of
business are in different States”
- Sale of goods
- Sale between private business
- Sale in more than 1 country
- Parties in Member States to CISG

CISG sets out how parties to a contract should behave while negotiating and carrying out the terms of
the contract. For example:
A) Formation of the contract
B) Obligations of the seller
C) Obligations of the buyer
D) Remedies for breach of contract
E) Passing of Risk