The case concerned importation and distribution of horse meat in France by two French companies, which entered into a contract for the supply of the meat with a company from Quebec. A dispute arose when the meat turned out to be contaminated and provoked an epidemics of trichinosis. The victims of the epidemics sued for damages.
The Appellate Court, after having established that CISG was applicable to the sales contract between the French companies and the Quebec seller under its Art. 1(1)(a), ordered the supplier from Quebec - the latter pursuant to Art. 35(1) CISG - and in addition the two French companies as importer and distributor to indemnify the victims.
In reversing the Second Instance decision, the Supreme Court stated that, even if the Appellate Court had properly found that the sales contract was governed by CISG, it had violated Art. 16 of the French Code of Civil Procedure, since it applied CISG ex officio without inviting the parties to argue on that point. |