Documents that satisfy the requirements of CISG Art. 58

Abstract

Article 58 of the CISG triggers the buyers obligation to pay for the goods at the time when the goods or documents controlling their disposition are placed at the buyers disposal, unless the parties have agreed that the obligation to pay shall occur at some other time. This Article considers the meaning of the phrase documents controlling their disposition. It seems originally to have been intended to refer only to documents giving the buyer the right to take possession of the goods, such as negotiable bills of lading or warehouse receipts. Documents of that kind are far less frequently used in modern transportation practice than they were when the CISG was drafted. The Article shows that most of the documents used for international transportation of goods in the 21st century do not satisfy a narrow interpretation of Article 58. Two alternatives are possible: first, to continue with a narrow interpretation of Article 58, which condemns it increasingly to irrelevance, or secondly, to broaden the interpretation to accommodate changes in international transportation practice. This Article argues for the latter approach.