The Puzzle of the Lack of Colombian Cases on the CISG

Abstract

This paper analyzes the puzzle of the lack of case law on CISG in Colombia, an enigma that is even more perplexing taking into account that this Convention is regarded as a success case in the attempts of unification of international private law and that there are an important number of case law in other countries. After explaining this puzzle and mentioning that there is case law applying the CISG in countries other than Colombia, this paper studies the reasons that might explain the lack of case law in Colombia. Some of the hypotheses are not feasible, such as (i) a lack of international transactions in contracts for sale of goods where either the seller or the buyer is from Colombia, (ii) the lack of knowledge about the CISG among Colombian companies, or (iii) the fact that international contracts where one of the parties has its establishment in Colombia do not trigger any disputes. Other hypotheses might be partially true, such as (i) the exclusion of the CISG as the governing law of international contracts where one of the party has its domicile in Colombia, (ii) that the CISG is the governing law of international contracts where one of the parties is from Colombia but the companies, their attorneys at-law and, more important, the judges and arbitrators who settle the disputes arising out of such contracts are unaware about the existence of this Convention, or (iii) that international arbitral tribunals whose venue is a place outside Colombia but neither Colombian judges nor arbitrators whose venue is in Colombia settles the disputes concerning a sale of goods between a Colombian party and a company from other country in confidential awards that, therefore, are not reported in international legal databases. After explaining these hypotheses, this paper concludes and presents the guidelines of future empirical researches that might solve the enigma of the lack of cases on CISG in Colombia at a more detailed level.