Links to other databases containing information on the CISG and international commercial law

The Autonomous Network of CISG Websites

• Current participants
• Nature of the network
• An invitation to participate
  • Site editors, universities, centers and law firms
    who share / will share with you on the Internet

• United Nations Treaty Collection
• The UNCITRAL database
• UNIDROIT and Unilex on the Internet
• The Hague Conference on private international law
• The World Trade Organization
• The World Congress of Comparative Law

• University of Tromsø database (International Trade Law Project)
• Guide to International Trade Law Sources on the Internet
• Eye on International Business Law
• Law and Politics - Foreign and International Law, International Trade
• University Law Review Project and Coalition of Online Journals
• Transnational Law Links
• International Commercial Arbitration: Resources in Print and Electronic Format

• National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade (The InterAm database)

• Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School)

• The Lex Mundi database

United Nations Treaty Collection

http://untreaty.un.org/English/access.asp

The UN Treaty Section announces: "This publication contains the texts of over 34,000 bilateral and multilateral treaties in their authentic language(s), along with a translation into English and French, as appropriate."

For CISG data see:

http://untreaty.un.org/English/bible/englishinternetbible/partI/chapterX/treaty20.asp

The United Nations publication, "Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General", has been available on the Internet since 1995. The electronic version is updated once a week on the Internet. It contains current information on the status of the CISG and other treaties.

The UNCITRAL database

The Internet website of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law will include all current CISG abstracts published by UNCITRAL. It is intended to include all language versions of CLOUT documents. In addition, UNCITRAL plans to post on the Internet its current documents (Reports of and to Working Groups as well as Reports of and to the Commission), legal texts emanating from UNCITRAL, and a selection of travaux préparatoires.

UNIDROIT on the Internet

The official Unidroit World Wide Web site, which is available in its entirety in both English and French, may be accessed at:

http://www.unidroit.org

UNILEX on the Internet

UNILEX is based on a research project started in 1992 by the Centre for Comparative and Foreign Studies -- a joint venture of the Italian National Research Council, the University of Rome I "La Sapienza", and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT).

Their "about us" page describes this project:

     UNILEX is an "intelligent" database of international case law and bibliography on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts -- two of the most important international instruments for the regulation of international commercial transactions.

     UNILEX contains:

• detailed abstracts of the most important cases decided under both instruments by courts and arbitral tribunals worldwide;
• the full text of each decision in its original language (when available);
• the complete texts of the CISG and the UNIDROIT Principles;
• a status report on the state of ratifications of CISG, including reservations and declarations by States Parties;
• a vast bibliography for each instrument.

     UNILEX provides access to the decisions and arbitral awards by:

• date;
• country or arbitral tribunal;
• article number of the instrument;
• specific issues listed under each article.

     UNILEX provides access to the bibliography by:

• author;
• article number of the instrument;
• area.

This material is in addition available in printed loose-leaf texts marketed by Transnational Publishers, Inc., of Ardsley, New York. There is also a portion of the UNIDROIT website devoted exclusively to the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts. This material may be accessed at <http://www.unidroit.org/english/principles/pr-main.htm>.

The reader is reminded that the complete version of the Unidroit Principles contains not only the black-letter rules but also detailed comments on each article including, where appropriate, illustrations. This complete version of the Unidroit Principles may be ordered from Unidroit, Via Panisperna 28, 00184 Rome, Italy, or seen on the Internet at: <http://www.unidroit.org/english/principles/contents.htm>.

Unidroit is also in the process of setting up a Data Base on Uniform Law (UNILAW), which when operative will contain materials and information relating to a number of different areas of law, including transport law, arbitration, international finance and commerce and cultural property. The UNILAW data base is intended to provide ready access by Governments, judges, arbitrators and practising lawyers to the texts of international uniform law instruments, the status of ratifications and reservations, case law and bibliographical references. The data base will be accessible in English and French.

The Hague Conference on private international law

http://www.hcch.net/e/index.html

The Hague Conference is the oldest intergovernmental organization on private international law (First Session convened in 1893). Their webpage describes the Conference and its activities, e.g., "The Eighteenth Session held in October 1996 adopted the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law . . . It was also decided to include in the agenda for the Nineteenth Session, to be held in the year 2000, the question of jurisdiction, and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters."

The World Trade Organization

http://www.wto.org/wto/map/sitemap.htm

The WTO website contains material on the World Trade Organization, trade topics and resources.

Data on the 2006 proceedings of the XVIIth World Congress of Comparative Law / XCIIième Congrès de l'Academie Internationale de Droit Comparé may be found at <http://www.law.uu.nl/aidc-utrecht-2006>

University international commercial law websites

University of Tromsø database (International Trade Law Project)

http://lexmercatoria.org

The Tromsø database is the first WWW site dedicated to a given area of law on the Internet: international trade law and its many ramifications. Edited by Ralph Amissah, it is an important site for international trade law materials and links to related materials on the "net". Like the UNCITRAL and UNIDROIT databases, it is an especially good site to "bookmark": exploration of the by-ways opened up by its links opens up much information relevant to contracts governed by the CISG. "If I only had one place to go for access to the full-text of major trade related agreements, this would be it." Marci Hoffman (citation to her University of Minnesota website provided below.)

Guide to International Trade Law Sources on the Internet

http://www.llrx.com/features/trade.htm

Edited by Marci Hoffman of the University of Minnesota Law Library, this website accesses research guides, bibliographies, and collections of links to material on many facets of international trade law.

Eye on International Business Law

http://www.laweye.de/

Maintained by Willem C. Vis Mooter 1997/1998 Guido Carl Zoellner under Chair Prof. Klaus Peter Berger, Center for Transnational law (CENTRAL), Köln, Germany, this website has sections on International trade law: electronic commerce, intellectual property; International commercial arbitration: acts and conventions, courts, intitutions and rules, further resources; Private international law: general sources, Vienna Sales Convention, various national laws, comparative law; Further legal sites: Public International Law, International organizations, Institutes and associations, miscellaneous; International law guides; Further sites of interest: Internet search, students' interest

Law and Politics - Foreign and International Law, International Trade

http://www.lpig.org

The International & Foreign Law page of the Law and Politics: Internet Guide of the University of Texas, another participant in Pace's annual Moot on the CISG and International Commercial Arbitration, is another good site to consult for links to relevant data

See also:

The University Law Review Project and Coalition of Online Journals. The Project and Coalition access, inter alia, FindLaw ("Internet legal resources"); Jurist ("the law professors' network"); Legal information Institute at Cornell; Richmond Journal of Law & Technology (sites and law journals on the Internet); and Australasian Legal Information Institute. These websites are broader than International Law/International Commercial Law, but each contains materials on the subject. For another helpful collection of links to international law sites, go to the Guide to Foreign and International Legal Databases of the Law Library of New York University School of Law.

Transnational Law Links by Luke Nottage and Hiroo Sono (published by Kyushu University Law Faculty, Japan), a collection of bookmarks for websites accumulated over the years (in Japanese, * especially in English, and sometimes in German).

Arbitration and the CISG often go hand in hand: the typical negotiated international sales contract will likely contain an arbitration clause. For data on: International commercial arbitration bibliographies, research guides, and background sources; Major treatises, casebooks, practice guides, and looseleaf services on the subject; International arbitration journals and newsletters, including arbitration journal indexes; International arbitration rules, statutes, model laws and conventions; International arbitration courts and organizations; Internet resources on arbitration material, websites and electronic discussion groups, go to International Commercial Arbitration: Resources in Print and Electronic Format [an excellent compendium maintained by Lyonette Louis-Jacques, Foreign and International Law Librarian and Lecturer in Law, University of Chicago Law School]

For another helpful, comprehensive international commercial arbitration resource, go to International ADR, an electronic forum designed to provide information on the principal aspects of international mediation and arbitration: http://www.INTERNATIONALADR.com

http://www.natlaw.com

The InterAm database, maintained by the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade contains legislative materials from various Latin American countries, including access to Mexican legislation and the Mexican Diario Oficial. The database also maintains an extensive collection of links to other legal information resources relating to trade and the Americas.

See also the website of the Organization of American States for an extensive collection of Texts of Agreements - Trade that impact upon the Americas: http://www.sice.oas.org/tradee.asp

http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/2/overview.html

U.S. persons should be aware that where the CISG applies, it replaces the greater part of Article 2 of the U.S. Uniform Commercial Code. For comparative purposes, the text of Article 2 of this Code may be accessed by clicking to the above hypertext link.

http://www.hg.org

The "Hieros Gamos" website of Lex Mundi contains three sections: HG I consists of lists to all known organizations related directly or indirectly to law regardless of whether they currently are on the Internet; HG II contains over 200 comprehensive practice areas organized to facilitate access; HG III leads to resources such as journals, employment, law study and to the card catalogues to 100 law schools.