CISG Article 7: Interpretation of the Convention

CISG comes with its own in-built interpretation rules which are set forth in Article 7.1 Article 7 is the provision that sets forth the Convention’s interpretive standards. The provision in Article 7(1) expressly prescribes the international character of the Convention and uniform direction that should be adopted in the interpretation and application of the Convention’s provisions. Article 7 expressly directs that in the interpretation of CISG “regard is to be had to its international character and to the need to promote uniformity in its application and the observance of good faith in international trade”.2 Interpreters of CISG are further instructed that questions concerning matters governed by CISG which are not expressly settled in it, “are to be settled in conformity with the general principles” on which CISG is based, or in the absence of such principles, “in conformity with the law applicable by virtue of the rules of private international law”.3 Matters governed by CISG which are not expressly settled in it are issues to which CISG applies but which it does not expressly resolve; ie, gaps praeter legem.4 Article 7(2) provides the important mechanism for filling any gaps praeter legem in CISG and thus complements Article 7(1) by laying the course for the text’s deliberation and future development. Thus, CISG acquires the flexibility necessary to any instrument that attempts to deal with a subject matter as fluid and dynamic as international trade