A Dutch buyer bought textiles from a French seller. The buyer filed a claim for non conformity. The seller alleged that the Dutch Court had no jurisdiction over the case.
As to the question of jurisdiction, the Court found that the parties had agreed that the seller would send the goods to the buyer's place of business. Therefore, the contract of sale involved carriage of the goods. In such a case, the obligation to deliver consists in handing the goods over to the first carrier for transmission to the buyer (Art. 31(a) CISG). Since the goods were considered to have been delivered to the first carrier at the seller's place of business, the place of performance of the obligation was France.
This decision was confirmed by the Hoge Raad (Supreme Court), dated 26-09-1997 (see abstract and fulltext in UNILEX). |