Case abstracts
GERMANY: LG Aachen 3 April 1990
Case law on UNCITRAL texts (CLOUT) abstract no. 46 [cited as 3 April 1989]
Reproduced with permission from UNCITRAL
The seller, an Italian shoe manufacturer, claimed the balance of amounts due from a contract concluded in 1989. The German buyer counterclaimed a price reduction for non-conformity of the goods with contract specifications. The court found that the law of Italy was applicable under German private international law as the law of the country where the seller had its place of business, and applied CISG as part of Italian law in force at the time of the conclusion of the contract. It was held that the buyer could reduce the price of the goods in the same proportion as the value that the goods actually delivered had at the time of delivery bore to the value that conforming goods would have had at the time (art. 50 CISG).
Abstract from 14 Journal of Law & Commerce (1995) 227
Reproduced with permission from the Journal
Time limit for right to rely on lack of conformity, CISG Articles 38, 39. The [buyer] has a right to a reduction of the price. Under CISG Article 50, the buyer is entitled to reduce the price if the goods do not conform to the contract. . . . The [buyer] did not lose his right to a reduction of the price pursuant to CISG Article 39 in connection with CISG Article 38 on grounds of giving a belated notice of non-conformity. Under CISG Article 39, the buyer loses the right to rely on a lack of conformity of the goods if he does not give the seller notice thereof within a reasonable time period. Pursuant to CISG Article 38 the buyer must examine the goods within as short a period as is practicable under the circumstances. The [buyer] complied with these time limits. Pursuant to the evidence, it is established that the [buyer] examined the goods on the day of delivery and complained [to the seller] . . . the next day.
APPLICATION OF CISG: Yes [Article 1(1)(b)] APPLICABLE CISG PROVISIONS AND ISSUES Key CISG provisions at issue: Articles Classification of issues using UNCITRAL classification code numbers: 35A [Conformity of goods: quality required by contract]; 38A1 [Time for examining goods (buyer's obligation to examine goods) : as soon as practicable in the circumstances]; 39A11 ; 39A2 [Requirement to notify seller of lack of conformity: buyer must notify seller within reasonable time; Degree of specificity required]; 50B1 [Buyer's right to reduce price for non-conforming goods: formula for price reduction]; 59B [Payment due at time fixed or determinable by contract or Convention : no need for request by buyer or other formality]; 78B [Interest on delay in receiving price or any other sum in arrears: rate of interest] Descriptors: English: Unilex database <http://www.unilex.info/case.cfm?pid=1&do=case&id=24&step=Abstract> French: Droit et pratique du commerce international/International Trade Law and Practice 1994, 96 [cited as 3 April 1989] German: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Internationales und Europäisches Recht (SZIER)/Revue Suisse de droit international et de droit européen 1995, 269-270 [cited as 3 March 1989] Italian: Diritto del Commercio Internazionale (1994) 848 No. 27
Polish: Hermanowski/Jastrzebski, Konwencja Narodow Zjednoczonych o umowach
miedzynarodowej sprzedazy towarow (Konwencja wiedenska) - Komentarz (1997) 242 CITATIONS TO TEXT OF DECISION Original language (German): cisg-online.ch <http://www.cisg-online.ch/cisg/urteile/12.htm>; Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft (RIW) 1990, 491-492; Die deutsche Rechtsprechung auf dem Gebiete des internationalen Privatrechts im Jahre (IPRspr) 1990 No. 31 [62-63]; Unilex database <http://www.unilex.info/case.cfm?pid=1&do=case&id=24&step=FullText> Translation: Unavailable
CITATIONS TO COMMENTS ON DECISION English: Karollus, Cornell Review of the CISG (1995) 51 [69-71, 75] [comments on notice issues and interest issues in the context of German case law on the CISG]; Ferrari, International Legal Forum (4/1998) 138-255 [233 n.865, 229 n.826 (examination of goods/lack of conformity), 252 n.1074 (interest issues)]; Ferrari, 15 Journal of Law and Commerce (1995) 99-116 [comments on notice issues, citing this and other cases], Koneru, 6 Minnesota Journal of Global Trade (1997) 123-138 [comments on interest rulings in this case and other cases]; Thiele, 2 Vindobono Journal (1998) 3-35, citing this case [n.16] and 42 other interest rulings; Kuoppala, Examination of the Goods under the CISG and the Finnish Sale of Goods Act (2000) § 3.4.1 [analysis of related articles 38, 39, 40 and 44 (includes digests of relevant material in many CISG cases; also digests cases under a domestic sales code that is patterned, for the most part, after the CISG)]; Liu Chengwei, Recovery of interest (November 2003) nn.48, 196; Larry A. DiMatteo et al., 34 Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business (Winter 2004) 299-440 at nn.346, 373, 666; CISG-AC advisory opinion on Examination of the Goods and Notice of Non-Conformity [7 June 2004] (this case and related cases cited in addendum to opinion); Article 78 and rate of interest: Mazzotta, Endless disagreement among commentators, much less among courts (2004) [citing this case and 275 other court and arbitral rulings]; [2005] Schlechtriem & Schwenzer ed., Commentary on UN Convention on International Sale of Goods, 2d (English) ed., Oxford University Press, Art. 1 para. 39 Art. 35 para. 9 Art. 39 para. 17 Art. 74 para. 16 French: Witz, Les premières applications jurisprudentielles du droit uniforme de la vente internationale (L.G.D.J., Paris 1995) 28 n.21, 86 n.25, 90 n.47, 106 n.117, 107 n.119 German: Karollus, [österreichisches] Recht der Wirtschaft (öRdW) 1991, 319; Piltz, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (1994) 1101; Ferrari, Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (1998) 162-172
Italian: Veneziano, Rivista del diritto commerciale e del diritto generale delle obbligazioni (1992) 925 [945]
Spanish: Perales, Cuadernos Jurídicos (1996) No. 43, 5 [8 n.30] [commentary on Article 78: determination of rate of interest under the CISG (review of case law)] Classification of issues present
Editorial remarks
Citations to other abstracts, case texts and commentaries
CITATIONS TO OTHER ABSTRACTS OF DECISION
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