The Swiss seller started a legal action against the German buyer to receive the purchase price of machinery, that the buyer had ordered in the setting of business relation. This business relation between the parties was ruled by a general contract.
The Court affirmed its jurisdiction being the Court of the place of payment according to Art. 5 (1) of the 1988 Lugano Convention on Jurisdiction and Enforcement of Judgements in Civil and Commercial Matters. To determine the place of payment the court applied CISG, because the single delivery contract had to be regarded isolated. By doing this it must be qualified as a sales contract (Art. 1 (1) a CISG), even though the framework contract (contract for supply of goods and services) as such does not fall within the scope of CISG.
The Court further held, that place of payment of price is the place of business of the Swiss seller (Art. 57 (1) (a) CISG). The simple mentioning of a German bank account on the bill can not be considered as an explicit contractual agreement on place of payment or an implicit agreement, even if the buyer remains silent after receiving the bills. Nor does it derive from a practice between the parties referring to former transactions (Art. 9 CISG). |