Article: Open-Price Contracts Under the CISG: The Law in Action

Abstract

The CISG is undoubtedly the most successful instrument of international trade law. While in former times the international sale of goods was regulated by domestic laws, today the international community is able to offer a truly international regime for these contracts. However, the CISG is not free from ambiguities and contradictions. One of the most famous is between Articles 14(1) and 55. This interplay has ignited the well-known academic controversy over the validity of sale of goods contracts without an agreed price under the CISG. The purpose of this article is to look at this contradiction from a different point of view. While in theory it is possible to argue that there is a stalemate between the supporters of validity of open-price contracts and their opponents, this stalemate is the law on the book. The law in practice offers a different landscape. It shows that in practice open-price contracts are regarded as valid under the CISG, although the adjudicators still struggle with the correct application of Article 55. Open-price contracts, Article 14, Article 55, agreements to agree, tentative prices, determinable price, contractual validity, market price, reasonable price.