Businesses in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have joined forces through the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to urge their governments to fully ratify an international trade convention. Business people, lawyers and government officials will meet in Copenhagen on 24 February to discuss the issues involved.

The United Nations Convention on International Sale of Goods (CISG) establishes a comprehensive code of legal rules governing the formation of contracts for the international sale of goods. The Convention entered into force in 1988 and has so far been ratified by 62 states across the globe.

Professor Jan Ramberg, a Swedish international trade law expert said: … The four Scandinavian states “ Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden “ have declared that they will not be bound by the second part of the Convention, which deals with contract formation. Furthermore, the Convention does not apply to inter-Nordic trade between the four countries.

Mr Ramberg, who also co-chairs ICC's Commission on Commercial Law and Practice added: … These Scandinavian exceptions create uncertainty not only for the local business community but for all traders doing business with companies in the Nordic countries. If a contract is governed by, for example, Finnish law, the provisions of the Finnish Contracts Act apply. Alternatively, if a contract is governed by the law of another signatory country, Part II of CISG may apply.

The uncertainty has caused companies to take action through their local ICC national committees and establish a meeting with government representatives on Thursday 24 February 2005 in Copenhagen. The meeting will take place at Børsen, which is believed to be the world's oldest stock exchange and is a historic Scandinavian symbol of international trade.

Key issues to be discussed at the meeting include:

• The reservations of the Scandinavian countries regarding Part II of CISG, which are rooted in a fear that CISG would be only partially successful;
• The isolation of the Scandinavian countries due to the world-wide success of CISG;
• Uncertainty created by the failure to accept Part II, as the applicable law on formation may make Part II applicable anyway;
• The harmful effects of uncertainty with respect to binding effect (offer and contract);
• The viewpoint that parties would be unlikely to seek to create certainty by clauses on applicable law before the contract has been made;
• Rules on formation of contracts under Scandinavian law are not superior to those of Part II of CISG;
• Rules on formation of contracts under Scandinavian law are inapt as a basis for electronic contracting (cf. First Opinion of CISG Advisory Council).