JAPANESE COMMERCIAL CODE: THE COMPATIBILITY WITH 1980 VIENNA SALES CONVENTION AS COMPARED WITH THAI CIVIL AND COMMERCIAL CODE

Abstract

Given the fact that, currently in Thailand, there are no specific laws governing commercial sales and international sales which apparently causes legal obstacles. As Thailand and Japan share similar legal histories and backgrounds and both now follow the legal system of the Continental Europe, i.e. the Civil Law whereby many countries joining therein separate commercial sales from non-commercial sales, including Japan. In addition, Japan, but not Thailand, is a member state of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of goods (CISG), or the 1980 Vienna Sales Convention which was designed to apply only to commercial sales and is now worldwide accepted and gaining more and more popularity as the growing number of contracting states has been increasing and currently reaching 89 states. This research is thus aimed to study the compatibility of Japanese Commercial Code regarding sales with the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), or the 1980 Vienna Sales Convention as they were both designed to apply only to commercial sales and then compare with Thai Civil and Commercial Code regarding sales. The sales provisions provided in Thai Civil and Commercial Code are the only set of Thai sales law and apply to both commercial sales and non-commercial sales which are distinct in natures. It is highly expected that the result of this research will be a piece of vital information which can be used to develop Thai sales law by considering (1) the separation of domestic commercial sales provisions from non-commercial sales by any mean, and (2) the adoption of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), or the 1980 Vienna Sales Convention with the enactment of a new Thai sales law applying to international sales which needs specific provisions designed for international sales.