Forever Young: The Gap-Filling Mechanism of the CISG As a Factor of Its Modernization

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is celebrating its 40th anniversary as one of the most important and the most widely accepted treaties of international sales law. One of the reasons of such a remarkable reputation is the Convention’s gap-filling mechanism. That gap-filling mechanism is designed to address not only the issues that cannot find their place under a specific rule although they should be governed by the Convention but also the new matters that emerge with the development and evolution of international trade. Though it is contained in just one seemingly simple provision, the gap-filling mechanism of the CISG hides many complexities and raises questions that require meticulous analysis. This holds true for virtually all elements of that mechanism: the method of its interpretation, the scope of application, the reference to general principles of the Convention and the use of rules of private international law. Upon detailed examination of those issues, the author concludes that the gap-filling mechanism of the CISG has indeed contributed to keeping the Convention up to date with modern legal challenges and proposes some solutions that might lead to even greater promotion of its international character and the uniformity of its application, susceptible of further affirming the role of the gap-filling mechanism as a factor of the Convention’s modernization.