A Reflection on the Principle of Voluntarism in the Contracts of Assignment of Government Shares in the Process of Privatization

The principle of voluntarism has essential role in formation of contract, choice of contract party and ascertaining the terms of contract in the law of contract in Iran. However, the position of this principle as for contracts of assignment of government shares in the process of privatization, specifically with respect to the power and authority of contract parties to ascertain the terms of the contract, is not clear and decided. This study attempts to clarify whether the terms of contract are already ascertained or the contract parties (state and buyer) are authorized to negotiate about them and determine voluntarily the contents of the contracts. The results show that major part of content of these contracts are terms that are enacted by Parliament, Supreme Council of implementation of constitution 44th principle general policies, and Board of Assignment; In fact, Iranian Privatization Organization and buyers don’t have any significant role in ascertaining the content of these contracts. However, these institutions’ authority in determining the content of the aforementioned contracts is subject to specific restrictions, rules and criteria, nonetheless the Principle of Voluntarism do not govern these contracts in the same way that is observed in the private contracts.