Impact Of Breach On Risk-Transferring On The Contract Of International Sales Of Goods

Sales law and risk-transfer system has coexisted since the law was made.Compared with internal sales of goods,there are more risks in international sales of goods,because goods usually need long cross-border transportation international transaction.In the process of delivery,there are various factors that may cause damage to or loss of goods.Generally speaking,these factors can be divided into two kinds:factors which can be attributed to the fault of the contracted parties(such as breach),and factors that can't be attributed to the fault of the contracted parties(such as act of god).Risk-transfer and risk- bearing are in direct connection with the contracted parties' benefits,so the two parties can't avoid such problems. The risk-transfer system aims to explain which party or parties of the sales contract should bear the loss or damage when such factors that can't be attributed to the fault of the contracted parties cause risks.Breach often happens in the process of fulfilling the contract of international sales of goods,which can also causes damage to the goods.According to the relevant rules of breach and remedy,the violator should bear risks in case of breach.The occurrence of breach and different remedies one may choose make risk-transfer get more complicated.For example,the Buyer's delay in receiving goods can make risks transfer to himself ahead of time.Another example is:in case of the Seller's fundamental breach,risks transferred to the Buyer will go back to the Seller if the Buyer choose to cancel the contract.So,it is obvious that breach may change the pattern of risk-bearing.The contracted parties may stipulate beforehand in their contract on the issues of breach and risk-transfer;while not stipulated,they can deal with such issues according to the stipulations on international convention and international practice etc.On the basis of summarizing our country's own practice and referring to other countries' advanced experiences,the Contract Law of PRC has made systematical regulations against risk-bearing problem for the first time.But,with the development of practice,the Contract Law turns out to be not good enough.This paper aims to discuss risk-transfer under the circumstances of breach by comparing different regulations among CISG,Incoterms 2000,UCC and the Contract Law of PRC,and try to give some advice on how to improve our Contract Law against risk-bearing issue.