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| An Italian seller and a German buyer concluded a contract for the sale of flowers. After receiving the goods the buyer refused to pay the purchase price alleging that the flowers were defective.
Confirming the lower Court's decision, the Court found that the buyer had lost its right to rely on a lack of conformity of the goods since it failed to specify the precise nature of the defects as required by Art. 39(1) CISG. In the Court's opinion, it was neither sufficient to give notice of the mere fact of the "bad quality" of the flowers to the seller nor to find fault with the "poor appearance" of the flowers. The Court further stated that, according to Arts. 38 and 39 CISG, perishable goods have to be immediately examined by the buyer. The Court held that in the international flower trade it is reasonable for the buyer to give notice of a lack of conformity to the seller on the same day of receipt of the goods. Furthermore, the buyer had complained that 10 % of the delivered flowers had not been properly sorted. The Court considered this defect a minor one, that did not lead to a non-conformity of the delivered goods according to Art. 35 CISG, since the amount of the flowers in question was insignificant and since the parties did not agree upon a special sorting of the flowers. Hence the Court found that the buyer was obliged to pay the purchase price according to Art. 53 CISG. |