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| A contract for the supply and assembling of materials which had to be used for the building of a hotel, concluded between an Austrian seller and a Yugoslav (Croatian) buyer on May 31, 1989, after the Convention's entry into force in Austria and Yugoslavia, was held to be a sales contract, governed by CISG since the parties had not chosen another law.
The seller, who had alleged the buyer's delay in the payment of the price, claimed interest. The Court held that the buyer had to pay interest pursuant to Art. 78 CISG, even though the parties had not agreed upon the payment of interest. Absent an express provision in CISG, the Court held that the interest rate was to be determined in accordance with the law governing in the place of payment. The contract did not contain any reference as to the place of payment, but it expressly provided that payment had to be made against the handing over of the goods in Czechoslovakia. As a consequence the place of payment was Czechoslovakia by virtue of Art. 57(1)(b) CISG. As Czechoslovakia did not have a statutory rate of interest, the court applied the rate commonly used in Czechoslovakia. |