A contract (contract) of sale is a document indicating that one party to the transaction (the seller) undertakes to transfer the goods specified in the contract or other subject of the agreement to the ownership of the other party (the buyer), who in turn undertakes to accept the goods and pay the established price for them.
An indispensable condition of the contract of sale is the transfer of ownership of the goods. This distinguishes it from all other types of contracts – lease, license, insurance, etc., which do not contain a condition on the transfer of ownership of the goods, and the subject of the contract is either the right to use the goods or the provision of services.
The contract of sale stipulates the content of the contractual terms, the procedure for their execution and responsibility for performance. The parties to the transaction independently choose certain formulations of the articles of the contract, taking into account the situation on the market, trade customs, the needs of the parties, international agreements, and general terms of trade. The parties to the contract (contract) of sale – the seller and the buyer – assume specific obligations that are contained in all the terms of the contract. The main ones for the seller are: to deliver the goods, to transfer the documents related to it and to transfer the ownership of the goods; for the buyer – to pay the price for the goods and take delivery.
To conclude a foreign trade contract of sale, an agreement (agreement) of the parties on all the conditions essential for this type of contract is necessary. The essential terms of the contract are the conditions without which it has no legal force. If one of the parties does not comply with them, the other party has the right to refuse to fulfill its obligations, terminate the contract and demand compensation for damages incurred. The insignificant include the terms of the contract in case of violation of which by one party the other party is not entitled to terminate the contract, but can only demand the fulfillment of obligations and compensation for damages. The concept of essential and non-essential conditions depends on the specific transaction, legislation, trade customs.