A Study on the Seller’s Obligation to Deliver the Goods under the PELS

This study deals with the rules on the seller's obligation to deliver the goods under the PELS in light of the scholarly writings on the PECL as well as the CISG, and the PICC. As regards the default rules on the place of delivery, it argues that the seller's business place is in a consumer context when one considers that the business seller is generally in a better position to arrange the most suitable carrier not only in terms of economic cost but also safe transportation. It also submits that the international nature of the PELS as an unified legal regime requires the independent freight forwarder who arranges the carriage of goods for the seller without himself undertaking any part of carriage not to be treated as a carrier under the PELS. In addition, it contends that the perspective of consumer protection does not justify the rules for the place of delivery in the case of the sales contract involving the carriage of good from the rules for the transfer of risk in the consumer sales. This is particularly the case where the jurisdiction is determined by the substantive law as regards the place of delivery. Further more, it argues that the lack of any specific provision for the place of delivery in the cases of specific goods or goods from a specific stock may be inefficient in that it may possibly increase the transaction costs for the transportation of the goods from the situs of the goods to the seller's business place. In respective of the rules on the time for delivery, it supports the view that any vague terms for the time of delivery should be interpreted as far as possible in terms of the expression chosen by the parties before one simply falls back on the default rule under the PECL.