ARE ATTORNEY FEES RECOVERABLE UNDER ARTICLE 74 OF CISG?

ABSTRACT United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) consists of a set of rules which govern international commercial transactions related to contracts of sale of goods . Article 74 of the CISG regulates requirements that need to be fulfilled for recovery of damages and stipulates that "damages for breach of contract by one party consist of a sum equal to the loss, including loss of profit, suffered by one party…". It is not explicitly stated in this article whether attorney fees fall under the category of loss and this issue has been highly debated especially since US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 'Zapata case' that attorney fees cannot be compensated under article 74 of CISG. In this article, firstly, so-called Zapata case will be analyzed and criticized in detail. Secondly, it will be argued that the CISG article 74 should be interpreted in a way that includes attorney fees