Abstract
This article examines the current private international law rules governing choice of law
in international sales contracts in Ghana and evaluates their suitability in enhancing legal
certainty and predictability of results for the contracting parties and the courts. It does this
by comparing Ghana’s legal rules with the European Union’s Rome I Regulation on the Law
Applicable to Contractual Obligations of 2008 (Rome I/Rome I Regulations). The discussion
begins by looking at the extent to which Ghana’s choice of law allows contracting parties
to expressly or impliedly choose the applicable law of their international sales contracts. It
then considers how Ghanaian law determines the applicable law when the parties do not
make a choice – the objectively determined applicable law. The article goes on to compare
Ghana’s approach with that of the Rome I Regulation, which is recognised globally as a leading
instrument for resolving choice of law issues in international commercial transactions. By
comparing the two systems, the article evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of both legal
frameworks when applied by courts to determine the applicable law of international sales
contracts. Finally, based on this analysis, the article offers suggestions to improve Ghana’s choice
of law rules, aiming to increase legal certainty and predictability for contracting parties.