16. There are many different kinds of contract for different situations. Look at the following paragraphs, and decide what kind of contract is being described or talked about.

1. I went into supermarket and chose the items that I wanted. As soon as my basket was full, I headed for the checkout.

2. My cousin Sasha said he was going to get rid of his computer and buy a new one. I said that I needed a computer and suggested I bought his old one. Anyway, we agreed on a price, I gave him a 250 hrn. Deposit, and agreed to pay the balance in installments over the next three months. I’m going round to collect the computer this evening.

3. The property is unfurnished, and the rent is $ 450 pcm (per calendar month), which has to be paid monthly in arrears. Electricity, gas and phone bills are extra. There’s a communal garden and a communal parking area, for which I also have to pay a nominal maintenance fee. The landlord is responsible for any repair to the property. I’m not allowed to sublet at any time. I’ve signed the lease for 18 month.

4. This appointment is for a period of two years, following a 4-week probationary period. Your remuneration package includes an annual gross salary of 5%. You are entitled to sick pay and 6 weeks annual leave after you have been with us for 3 months. Your hours of work are 9 to 5 Monday to Friday, although you may be asked to work overtime during busy periods. The company has its own medical and pension schemes which you may join.

5. A group 7M people carrier is $58 a day. This price includes unlimited mileage, fully comprehensive insurance, collision damage waiver and loss damage waiver. The company has drop-off points in most major cities, but will charge extra if you use a different one from that where you picked up the vehicle. A refueling service change will be applied if you do not replace the fuel you have used.

Scanning reading

17. Scan the text "United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods” in order to find the translation of the following sentences as quickly as possible.

Before scanning the text see the notes, given below the text.

Time limit – 15 minutes

Be sure to know that the word “scanning” means reading for detail.

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods

1. Значна частина міжнародного комерційного обміну виконується шляхом обміну товарами на основі укладених контрактів купівлі-продажу.

2. Під час укладення контракту купівлі продажу треба звертати увагу на вибір вирішальної правової системи, тому що різні правові системи можуть по-різному трактувати різноманітні аспекти контракту купівлі-продажу, в тому числі такі важливі питання, як відповідальність за дефекти та визначення моменту часу, в який зобов’язання вважається виконаним і ризик переходить до покупця.

3. Конвенція завжди має пріоритет перед іншими законами та нормами держав-учасниць щодо відносин навколо контракту купівлі-продажу.

4. Сторони контракту мають можливість недвозначно виключити застосування Конвенції в угоді про вирішальну правову систему.

5. Згідно зі Статтею 1 Конвенції, вона застосовується у випадку „коли норми міжнародного приватного права спричиняють застосування права держави-учасниці (згідно з угодою сторін або колізійною нормою)”.

The purchase contract is the most important type of contract used in foreign trade. A substantial portion of international commer­cial exchange is executed via exchange of goods based on signed purchase contracts. Therefore it is necessary to devote major atten­tion to this institute. Legal relations based on a purchase contract, i.e. relations between a seller and a buyer (though relations often occur where more than one person or entity stands on one side of the contract - where additional relationships enter into performance of the purchase contract, such as relationships to insurance companies in association with insuring a shipment or fulfilling obligations, re­lationships to transporters, etc.) are typical legal obligation relation­ships covered explicitly by most legal systems of the world. There­fore here again it is appropriate to consider first the issue of the de­cisive legal system. When signing a purchase contract one must devote careful attention to the choice of the decisive legal system, because different legal systems may treat various matters associated Singapore, Spain, Syria, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, Ukraine, with a purchase contract differently, including such important mat­ters as liability for defects and the points in time when the obliga­tion is fulfilled and risk passes to the buyer.

For the purpose of unifying legal coverage, on 11 April, 1980 a treaty was signed in Vienna called the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (hereafter "the Convention''). The Convention took effect on 1 January 1988; most countries of the former "Eastern Block" became parties to it in the first half of the 1990s. Thus, the Convention became one of the most important sets of international provisions in the area of private law. Parties to the Convention are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Belarus, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Guinea, Iraq, Italy, Yugoslavia, Lesotho, Hungary, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, the USA, Venezuela, and Zambia. Additional countries are considering joining the Convention.

The Convention is one of the "direct rules" of private interna­tional law (see the discussion in Chapter II of this publication) and is a component of the legal systems of countries that are party to it. Thus the Convention is always given priority over any other laws and regulations of the countries that are party to it covering rela­tions based on a purchase contract. According to Article 1 of the Convention, it applies in the following cases:

1. "to contracts of sale of goods between parties whose places of business are in different States when the States are Contracting States (i.e. parties to the Convention)".

The Convention takes precedence over other internal legal pre­cepts. This means that if, for example, a business in Ukraine signs a purchase contract with a business in Austria (both countries being parties to the Convention), then the Convention is used for cover­age of their relationships, and not, for example, the commercial codes of Ukraine and Austria. However, the parties to the contract have the possibility of explicitly excluding use of the Convention in an agreement on the decisive legal system.

2. "when the rules of private international law lead to the appli­cation of the law of a Contracting state (by agreement of the parties or a collision rule)".

This applies even in cases where the parties to the contract do not have their place of business in countries that are party to the Convention. Thus, for example, if a purchase contract is signed by a business in the Czech Republic, which is a signatory country, and a business from Portugal, which is not, and a collision rule or agree­ment by the parties refers to the law of the Czech Republic, or if neither of the parties to the contract has its place of business in a signatory country but they agree on use of the legal system, of a sig­natory country as the law of a third country, then the Convention is applied, because it is a component of the chosen legal system.

However, two countries - the Czech Republic and the USA -expressed an objection regarding this second principle of application of the Convention when signing it, meaning they are not bound by it. Thus, if a collision rule or agreement of the parties to a contract regarding the decisive legal system refers to the legal system of the USA where neither of the parties has its place of business in a signa­tory country (for example, in the case of a purchase contract between a business in Portugal and one in Algeria), then what is used is not the Convention but rather provisions of the decisive legal system - applicable provisions of domestic origin.

In matters not covered by the Convention, "general principles" of the Convention and of the legal system chosen by the parties or determined according to collision rules are applied (Article 7). It is necessary to point out that in many cases the existence of the Con­vention is forgotten, and the parties to a contract learn of this only when handling a particular disagreement or dispute. One of the cases where the Convention is not applied is that of "liability of the seller for death or personal injury caused by the goods to any person" (Article 5).

According to the Convention a purchase contract need not be in written form. If a contract is concluded in writing, changes to it still need not be in writing unless this is explicitly provided (Article 29). This is usually contained in the "final provisions" of a contract, but this need not be the case. One must pay attention to this circum­stance as well, because not only in domestic but also in international commercial relations a contract may be changed de facto: for exam­ple, when the seller (supplier) begins delivering to a different place than was agreed upon or was required, and the buyer accepts this once or twice, this may already constitute a de facto change in the contract (by inference).

Notes:

de facto – лат. де-факто, фактично, насправді