The Urgency of ICGS Ratification as a Method to Strengthen International Law in Indonesia
Muhammad Raihan Sabiq 2106658654
Convention on Contracts for International Goods (CISG) is an important principle that is used globally for international contract. But Indonesia is still yet to ratify this convention even though it is a developing country. Indonesia’s legal system is taken from the Dutch colonial period and it is said that there have not been any large changes to it. Even ASEAN supported the ratification of CISG to the Indonesian legal system. But there are other members of ASEAN that have not ratified this convention. The pros and cons of the CISG also must be taken account first to know whether it is fitting with the Indonesian legal system and its current situation or not.
Ratifying the CISG can improve the certainty for foreign business to make a contract with Indonesia business. The Indonesian Civil Code is more focus on transaction within the domestic/national. This convention can help to regulate international trade law better for
Indonesia so it is more firm and less risky. Ratifying CISG could also offer an alternative trough dispute resolution procedure within ASEAN trough CISG. According to Article 29 of the CISG Contract can also be modified or terminated by the mere agreements of parties. This allows a more adaptable agreements if there were a need to modify the agreement.
With those advantages there are also drawbacks to the ratification of CISG. A country could lose sovereignty and jurisdiction because there is a regulation above them that is not a national law. Another problem is Article 6 of the CISG which states “The parties may exclude the application of this Convention or, subject to article 12, derogate from or vary the effect of any of its provisions” that it deletes the significance of CISG if the parties making an agreement were to choose their national law.
In Indonesian Law a contract must be written in the Indonesian language. It is stated in Article 31 of Law 24/2009 and Article 26 Paragraph 1 of Presidential Decree 63/2019 that
"Indonesian language must be used in memorandums of understanding or agreements involving state institutions, government agencies of the Republic of Indonesia, Indonesian private
institutions, or individual Indonesian citizens." If the CISG were to be ratified, it can
disadvantage Indonesian international traders that is not familiar with English, not to mention another foreign language. Indonesia’s English speaker is still in a moderate to low rate so it could create a language barrier for those who do not speak English.
In Article 2 of the CISG there are also a couple of types of sales that is not regulated. In the Article it is stated that “This Convention does not apply to sales: (a) of goods bought for personal, family or household use, unless the seller, at any time before or at the conclusion of the
contract, neither knew nor ought to have known that the goods were bought for any such use; (b) by auction; (c) on execution or otherwise by authority of law; (d) of stocks, shares, investment securities, negotiable instruments or money; (e) of ships, vessels, hovercraft or aircraft; (f) of electricity.” Those things stated is cannot be used in CISG so that means the CISG does not cover fully of all international sales and is not a complete set of regulation.
The implementation of CISG is beneficial for its political ramifications and economic achievements in the future. It would help foreign business that would to work with Indonesian business. But in the implementation, there are still many disadvantages of ratifying the CISG and it questions the effectivity of it. CISG is only applicable to a member state and they can still choose other basis of regulation in their transaction if they want to. The convention is also does not include a certain type of sales. So, for now in my opinion there are no urgency to ratify the CISG, but maybe it will be beneficial for the future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Haeruddin, M. I. M., Muhammad Alfi Rifadli Mansur, Mansur Mansur, Ilham Thaief, and Muhammad Ilham Wardhana Haeruddin. "Keeping up with the CISG: A Case of Indonesia." Iranian Economic Review 24, no. 4 (2020). p. 923-933.
Oktaviandra, Surya. "Indonesia and Its Reluctance to Ratify the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG)." Indon. L. Rev. 8 (2018): 243.
