CISG CASE PRESENTATION

Netherlands 25 January 1995 District Court Middelburg (CL Eurofactors v. Brugse Import- en Exportmaatschappij)
[Cite as: http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/950125n1.html]

Primary source(s) for case presentation: Case abstract; case comment

Case Table of Contents

• Case identification
• Case abstract
• Classification of issues present
• Editorial remarks
• Citations to case abstracts, texts, and commentaries
• Case comment
• Guide to links contained in case presentations

Classification of issues present

APPLICATION OF CISG: Yes [Article 1(1)(b)]

APPLICABLE CISG PROVISIONS AND ISSUES

Key CISG provisions at issue: Articles 4 ; 7 ; 57

Classification of issues using UNCITRAL classification code numbers:

4B3 [Issues excluded: set-off];

7C23 [Interpretation of Convention: gap-filling by domestic law (set-off rights)];

57A [Place for payment: in absence of agreement, payment at seller's place of business]

Descriptors: Scope of Convention; Set-off ; Gap-filling ; Payment, place of ; Jurisdiction

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English: Unilex database <http://www.unilex.info/case.cfm?pid=1&do=case&id=153&step=Abstract>

Italian: Diritto del Commercio Internazionale (1997) 730 No. 141

CITATIONS TO TEXT OF DECISION

Original language (Dutch): Nederlands Internationaal Privaatrecht (1996) No. 127 [196-197]; Unilex database <http://www.unilex.info/case.cfm?pid=1&do=case&id=153&step=FullText>

Translation: Unavailable

CITATIONS TO COMMENTS ON DECISION

English: Papandréou-Deterville, English translation of Dalloz case comment cited below [text presented below]; Ferrari, International Legal Forum (4/1998) 138-255 [226 n.792 (scope of CISG: set-off issues)]

French: Papandréou-Deterville, Dalloz Sirey (1997) 223-224

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Case comment

Translation of comment published in Dalloz Sirey (1997) 223-224

[…]

The District Court of Middelburg reviewed a contract regarding beef meat, concluded between a company established in the Netherlands and a buyer established in Belgium. The Plaintiff, seller's assignee, sued the buyer for payment of the price. The buyer filed a set-off counterclaim for damages. The Tribunal believes that the contract is governed by the law of the Netherlands, law of the State with which the contract has the closest connection (Rome Convention, article 4). The application of the CISG is therefore completed (article 1(1)(b) and in conformity with article 7 of the CISG by the rules of law of the Netherlands. Furthermore, the Tribunal believes that it is competent in accordance with article 5-1 of the Brussels Convention of 1968 as a jurisdiction where the obligation of payment disputed has been or must be executed. In conformity with article 57 of the CISG, the payment must be made at the place of domicile of the seller. Many other decisions from the Netherlands have thus had recourse to the Vienna Convention to determine the competent Tribunal according to article 5-1 of the Brussels Conventions (Gerechtshof's-Hertogenbosch) (Court of Appeals of Bois-le-Duc), 26 October 1994, NIPR 1995, no. 266; 9 October 1995, NIPR 1996, no. 18). As for buyer's claim, the Tribunal of Middelburg states that it is solved by none of the clauses of the Vienna Convention, so that it must be decided by the applicable law of the contract, the law of the Netherlands, which states that the damages are not to be accorded.

The buyer's claim is a matter excluded from the field of application of the Convention. Instead of referring to article 7 CISG, the Middelburg Court should have, we believe, used article 4 CISG. Thus, the applicable law imposed itself without any preliminary research of a general principle. Indeed, if a question is not governed by the Convention, "it is outside the scope of the technique of filling gaps in accordance with article 7." (J Honnold, op. cit., no. 98).

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