A Swiss seller and a German buyer concluded a contract for the sale of cleaning products. Having received a request of payment from the seller, the buyer refused to pay alleging it had believed to have signed an order of sample goods for a value much lower than that reported by the seller. The seller commenced an action to recover the contract price. The buyer counterclaimed that the contract was invalid for mistake since it had concluded the contract without reading it, relying upon the other party's conduct.
The Court held that the question concerning mistake affected the validity of the contract and, for this reason, fell outside the scope of CISG, in compliance with Art. 4(a) CISG. In the Court's opinion, it had to be determined according to the law governing the contract, which, according to Swiss private international law rules, was Swiss law. The Court found that the buyer had sufficiently proved the defect of its consent under Swiss law and therefore rejected the seller's claim. |