Data

Date:
05-02-2008
Country:
Slovakia
Number:
1Cb/265/2005
Court:
District Court - Bardejov
Parties:
--

Keywords

BUYER'S OBLIGATION TO PAY THE PRICE (ART. 53 CISG)

RIGHT TO INTEREST (ART. 78 CISG) - INTEREST RATE DETERMINED BY OTHERWISE APPLICABLE DOMESTIC LAW

Abstract

A Slovak company (buyer) and a Polish company (seller) concluded a contract for the sale of MDF doors. As the buyer failed to pay the price, the seller asserted in front of the District Court in Bardejov (the Slovak Republic) its right to payment with the 12% annual interest. The buyer counterclaimed that, since the seller had breached the agreement between the parties which gave the buyer the right to act as exclusive distributor of the seller’s products in Slovakia, it had suspended payment and was entitled to a right of set-off with a claim for damages arising from the breach of the exclusive agency agreement.

By applying EU Council Regulation no. 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, the Slovak Court found itself competent to make a statement on the seller’s claim arising from the alleged breach of the sales contract, while denied its jurisdiction over the alleged buyer’s right of set-off.

With reference to the sales contract, the Court found that CISG was applicable since both Poland and the Slovak Republic are Contracting States (Art. 1 (1) (a) CISG).

As to the merits, the Court established that the seller had the right to require the buyer to perform its obligation (Art. 62 CISG) and was entitled to interest (Art. 78 CISG); as a result, it ordered the buyer to pay the price (Art. 53 CISG) plus interest at the rate of 16% annually according to the otherwise applicable law (i.e. Slovak law).

Fulltext

}}

Source

Original in Slovack:
- not yet available

English Translation:
- available at the University of Pace website, http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/}}