Tag Archive for: contracts

The Dutch Supreme Court on how to deal with the CISG on appeal (Willemen Infra v Jura)

On 24 February 2023, the Dutch Supreme court has ruled in the case Willemen Infra v Jura, ECLI:NL:HR:2023:313. The ruling clarifies the scope of the Dutch courts’ duty to apply the CISG (UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, 1980) ex officio on appeal. The Dutch appellate courts shall not review of their own motion whether the first instance court had to apply the CISG to the dispute, if the question of governing law was not the subject of parties’ objections on appeal and thus got “beyond the parties’ dispute”.

Facts

The facts of this case related to a sale of gutters by a Dutch seller to a Belgian buyer. The gutters were to be used for the renovation of a runway at Zaventem airport. According to the seller’s general terms and conditions, the disputes were to be resolved before a Dutch court on the basis of Dutch law.

After the start of performance, the buyer had reasons to assume that that the seller was unable to timely supply the products of the required quality. The buyer refused to take all the purchased gutters.

Proceedings

The seller disagreed and claimed damages for the loss of profit caused by the breach of contract. In the proceedings, the buyer submitted a counterclaim, invoking partial avoidance of contract and, alternatively, nullity of contract due to vitiation of consent. The buyer submitted namely that it had concluded the contract based on misrepresentation relating to the products’ quality (the certificates which the products should have) and the delivery time.

The seller relied on both the CISG and Dutch law in its written submissions, including the statement that the choice for Dutch law in the general terms and conditions should be interpreted as excluding the application of the CISG. During the oral hearing, both parties referred to Dutch law only (see on this the Conclusion of the Advocate General, at [3.4]). The first instance court ruled as follows in relation to applicable law: ‘According to the [seller], the contract is governed by Dutch law. (…) ‘The court contends that [the buyer] also relies on Dutch law in its arguments, and thus follows [the seller’s] reasoning. The court follows the parties in this and shall apply Dutch law.” (the formulation is quoted in Willemen Infra v Jura at [4.3.1], compare to Advisory Council’s Opinion nr 16). The court has then applied the Dutch civil code, not the CISG, to the dispute.

The seller appealed against the decision, but not against the applicable law. Nevertheless, the appellate court considered of its own motion, whether the contract was governed by the CISG. It ruled that the contract fell under the CISG’s scope; the Convention was directly applicable on the basis of article 1(1)(a) CISG, as both Belgium and the Netherlands are Contracting States to CISG. Furthermore, the parties to the dispute have not explicitly excluded the CISG’s application based on article 6. The appellate court has applied the CISG to the contractual claim, and Dutch law – to the claim relating to the vitiation of consent, as this matter falls outside the Convention’s scope. The buyer has labelled the application of the CISG ‘surprising’, because no claim in appeal targeted applicable law.

In cassation, the Dutch Supreme has ruled that applicable law was indeed “beyond the parties’ dispute” on appeal. Therefore, the appellate court was neither free to determine applicable law anew nor free to apply CISG of its own motion (Willemen Infra v Jura at [2.1.2]- [3.1.6]).

CISG and procedural ordre public?

The ruling is logical from the point of view of civil procedure. Appellate review follows up on – and is limited by – the points invoked on appeal. Issues “beyond the parties’ dispute” are not reviewed, unless these issues fall under the rules of procedural ordre public, which the appellate courts must apply of their own motion. While there is no unanimously accepted definition of the Dutch procedural ordre public, the cassation claim explicitly suggested that ‘the CISG is not of ordre public’ (see Conclusion of the Advocate General, at [3.3.]). Whereas this element of the cassation claim has been satisfied, neither the Advocate General nor the Court have engaged with the discussion whether procedural ordre public covers direct application (or applicability) of the Convention’s uniform substantive sales law, even if it would be confined to establishing whether the parties have opted-out the CISG based on its article 6.

HCCH Monthly Update: December 2021

Meetings & Events

On 1 December 2021, the HCCH hosted HCCH a|Bridged – Edition 2021, an online event focused on contemporary issues relating to the application of the HCCH 2005 Choice of Court Convention, including the promotion of party autonomy. More information is available here.

On 6 and 7 December 2021, the HCCH Administrative Cooperation Working Group on the 2007 Child Support Convention met via videoconference. The Group continued its work as a forum for discussion of issues pertaining to administrative cooperation, discussing in particular the collection of statistics under the Convention. More information is available here.

On 10 December 2021, the HCCH hosted a virtual seminar on the HCCH 2005 Choice of Court Convention and the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention for the Supreme Court of Ukraine. This was the third of a series of seminars, organised with the generous support of the EU Project Pravo-Justice, aimed at facilitating the proper and effective implementation of the HCCH Conventions and instruments in Ukraine.

Publications and Documentation

On 9 December 2021, the Permanent Bureau announced the publication of translations, in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish, of the Legal Guide to Uniform Instruments in the Area of International Commercial Contracts, with a Focus on Sales. With these new translations, the Legal Guide is now available in all UN languages. More information is available here.

On 14 December 2021, the Permanent Bureau announced the publication of 21 new translations of the Guide to Good Practice on the Use of Video-Link under the Evidence Convention. With these new translations, the Guide to Good Practice is now available in 23 European Union languages. More information is available here.

Vacancies

Applications are now open for the 2022 Peter Nygh Hague Conference Internship. The deadline for the submission of applications is 30 January 2022. More information is available here.

 

These monthly updates are published by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), providing an overview of the latest developments. More information and materials are available on the HCCH website.

 

HCCH Monthly Update: April 2021

On 14 April, the Working Group on the Practical Handbook on the Operation of the 2000 Protection of Adults Convention met for the first time. Comprised of experts with experience in the operation or implementation of the 2000 Protection of Adults Convention, the Working Group will meet via videoconference every two weeks, between 14 April and 23 June, in order to continue the development of a draft Practical Handbook on the operation of the Convention. More information on the 2000 Protection of Adults Convention is available here.

On 20 April, the Permanent Bureau announced the launch of the Legal Guide to Uniform Instruments in the Area of International Commercial Contracts, with a Focus on Sales, a joint publication of the Secretariats of UNCITRAL, UNIDROIT and the HCCH. The Legal Guide offers an overview of the principal legislative texts prepared by each organisation and illustrates how these texts interact to achieve the shared goals of predictability and flexibility. It is intended as a user-friendly resource for those interested in the adoption, application, and interpretation of uniform contract law. More information is available here.

On 22 April, the HCCH participated in the online international seminar “The Practical Operation of the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, organised by the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ) and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The seminar was attended by more than 100 participants from Germany, Kazakhstan and Turkey. This event was a follow-up to the seminar on the HCCH 1980 Child Abduction Convention held on 9 December 2020. The recording of the seminar is available here.

On 29 April, Professor William Duncan, former Deputy Secretary General of the HCCH, received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin, the highest form of recognition from the College. This honour follows his Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad in November 2020 and is a further tribute to Professor Duncan’s life-long contribution to academic research, law reform, and children’s rights both in Ireland and abroad. On behalf of the HCCH, the Permanent Bureau congratulates Professor Duncan on being awarded this prestigious honour.

 

Vacancy: The HCCH is currently seeking a(n) (Assistant) Legal Officer. The deadline for the submission of applications is this Sunday, 2 May 2021 (00:00 CEST). More information is available here.

 

These monthly updates are published by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), providing an overview of the latest developments. More information and materials are available on the HCCH website.

Belgian Reference for a Preliminary Ruling on Art. 6 of the Rome Convention

As pointed out by our friend Federico Garau over at the Conflictus Legum blog, the Belgian Supreme Court (Hof van Cassatie/Cour de Cassation) has made a preliminary reference to the ECJ, with regard to the interpretation of Art. 6 (individual employment contracts) of the 1980 Rome Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations.

The case (the second, to the best of my knowledge, to be made pursuant to the two 1988 Protocols on the interpretation of the Convention by the Court of Justice, after the ICF case, no. C-133/08), was lodged on 29 July 2010 under C-384/10, Jan Voogsgeerd v Navimer SA.

Questions referred

Must the country in which the place of business is situated through which an employee was engaged, within the meaning of Article 6(2)(b) of the Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations, opened for signature in Rome on 19 June 1980, 1 be taken to mean the country in which the place of business of the employer is situated through which, according to the contract of employment, the employee was engaged, or the country in which the place of business of the employer is situated with which the employee is connected for his actual employment, even though that employee does not habitually carry out his work in any one country?

Must the place to which an employee who does not habitually carry out his work in any one country is obliged to report and where he receives administrative briefings, as well as instructions for the performance of his work, be deemed to be the place of actual employment within the meaning of the first question?

Must the place of business with which the employee is connected for his actual employment within the meaning of the first question satisfy certain formal requirements such as, inter alia, the possession of legal personality, or does the existence of a de facto place of business suffice for that purpose?

Can the place of business of another company, with which the corporate employer is connected, serve as the place of business within the meaning of the third question, even though the authority of the employer has not been transferred to that other company?

The referring decision is available on the Juridat database (under no. S.09.0013.N), and can be downloaded as a .pdf file here.

Convergence and Divergence in Private International Law – Liber Amicorum Kurt Siehr

As we pointed out in a previous post, a very rich collection of essays in honor of Prof. Kurt Siehr on his 75th birthday has been recently published by Eleven International Publishing and Schulthess, under the editorship of Katharina Boele-Woelki, Talia Einhorn, Daniel Girsberger and Symeon Symeonides: Convergence and Divergence in Private International Law – Liber Amicorum Kurt Siehr. A previous Festschrift was dedicated to Prof. Siehr in 2000: “Private Law in the International Arena – From National Conflict Rules Towards Harmonization and Unification: Liber amicorum Kurt Siehr” (see Google Books).

Here’s the table of contents:

Part I: General Aspects of PIL Law-Making.

  • Talia Einhorn, American vs. European Private International Law – The Case for a Model Conflict of Laws Act (MCLA);
  • Peter Hay, Comparative and International Law in the United States – Mixed Signals;
  • Herbert Kronke, Connecting Factors and Internationality in Conflict of Laws and Transnational Commercial Law;
  • Jim Nafziger, Democratic Values in the Choice-of-Law Process;
  • Anton K. Schnyder, Keine Berührungsangst des Schweizerischen Bundesgerichts im Umgang mit Eingriffsnormen;
  • Frank Vischer, ‘Revolutionary ideas’ and the Swiss Statute on Private International Law;
  • Jun Yokoyama, Renvoi in Japanese Private International Law.

Read more

Publication: Galgano & Marrella, Diritto e Prassi del Commercio Internazionale

Galgano-Marrella Diritto e Prassi del Commercio InternazionaleProf. Francesco Galgano (emeritus in the University of Bologna Law School
and founder of Galgano Law Firm) and Prof. Fabrizio Marrella (“Cà Foscari” University of Venice) have recently published “Diritto e Prassi del Commercio Internazionale” (CEDAM, 2010), vol. LIV of the “Trattato di Diritto Commerciale e di Diritto Pubblico dell’Economia“, one of the most authoritative Italian legal series, directed by Prof. Galgano.

A presentation has been kindly provided by the authors (the complete TOC is available on the publisher’s website):

The problems affecting cross-border transactions from a legal standpoint as well as arbitration have boomed in the last years. This book is the first systematic and accurate analysis of International Business Law updated to the most important reforms in the European Union such as: the Lisbon Treaty; Regulation Rome I on the law applicable to contractual obligations and Regulation Rome II on the law applicable to non contractual obligations. New competences for international trade negotiations have been attributed by Member States to the EU. Moreover, an entirely new choice of law regime has been introduced in the European Union affecting world international contracts and transnational arbitration. In addition,new instruments have been generated from the business side such as the new UCP 600 (the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits, i.e. a set of rules on the issuance and use of letters of credit utilised by bankers and commercial parties in more than 175 countries in trade finance).

Beautifully written by two world reputed Authors in the field, the purpose of this work is to closely examine actors and sources of International Commercial Law with particular reference to contracts for the sale of goods and other forms of exports; licensing of intellectual property; and foreign direct investment.

Title: Diritto e Prassi del Commercio Internazionale, by Francesco Galgano and Fabrizio Marrella, CEDAM (series: Trattato di Diritto Commerciale e di Diritto Pubblico dell’Economia, vol. LIV), Padova, 2010, XLVIII-956 pages.

ISBN: 978-88-13-28228-8. Price: EUR 98.

Italian Commentary on Rome I Regulation

NLCCAn extensive and thorough commentary on the Rome I Regulation – the first, to the best of my knowledge, to provide an article-by-article analysis of the rules of the new EC instrument on the law applicable to contractual obligations – has been published in the latest issue (no. 3-4/2009) of the Italian journal Le Nuove Leggi Civili Commentate , one of the most authoritative Italian law review, published bimonthly by CEDAM (Padova).

The commentary (nearly 450 pages) has been edited by Francesco Salerno and Pietro Franzina (both Univ. of Ferrara), and has been written by a team of Italian scholars: Paolo Bertoli (Univ. of Insubria), Giacomo Biagioni (Univ. of Cagliari), Bernardo Cortese (Univ. of Padova), Anna Gardella (Univ. Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan), Antonio Leandro (Univ. of Bari), Fabrizio Marongiu Buonaiuti (Univ. of Rome “La Sapienza”), Giuseppina Pizzolante (Univ. of Bari), Paolo Venturi (Univ. of Siena). The same group of PIL experts had already published, back in 2007, a volume discussing the 2005 Rome I Commission’s Proposal (see our post here).

Here’s the comments’ list:

Introductory remarks: F. Salerno, F. Marongiu Buonaiuti; Art. 1: P. Bertoli (general comment and lit. i), G. Biagioni (lit. a-c), A. Gardella (lit. df), P. Franzina (lit. gh), G. Pizzolante (lit. j); Art. 2: P. Franzina; Art. 3: A. Gardella, G. Biagioni; Art. 4: A. Leandro (general comment), P. Franzina (lit. a, c, d and g), F. Marongiu Buonaiuti (lit. b, e, and f), A. Gardella (lit. h); Art. 5: G. Biagioni; Arts. 6-7: G. Pizzolante; Art. 8: P. Venturi; Art. 9: G. Biagioni; Arts. 10-11: B. Cortese; Art. 12: A. Leandro; Art. 13: F. Marongiu Buonaiuti; Arts. 14-18: A. Leandro; Art. 19: F. Marongiu Buonaiuti; Art. 20: P. Franzina; Art. 21: G. Biagioni; Art. 22: P. Franzina; Art. 23: F. Marongiu Buonaiuti; Arts. 24-26: P. Franzina; Arts. 27-29: F. Marongiu Buonaiuti.

A detailed table of contents is available here.

Publication: “La nuova disciplina comunitaria della legge applicabile ai contratti (Roma I)”

Boschiero_Venezia_RomaI__348_9562The papers presented at the conference on the Rome I Regulation hosted in November 2008 by the University of Venice “Ca’ Foscari” (see here for the webcast) have been published by the Italian publishing house Giappichelli under the editorship of Nerina Boschiero: La nuova disciplina comunitaria della legge applicabile ai contratti (Roma I).

Here’s the table of contents:

Presentazione (N. Boschiero).

Introduction. Considérations de méthode (P. Lagarde).

Parte I: Problemi generali.

  • Funzione ed oggetto dell’autonomia della volontà nell’era della globalizzazione del contratto (F. Marrella);
  • I limiti al principio d’autonomia posti dalle norme generali del regolamento Roma I. Considerazioni sulla “conflict involution” europea in materia contrattuale (N. Boschiero);
  • La legge applicabile in mancanza di scelta dei contraenti (U. Villani);
  • Le norme di applicazione necessaria nel regolamento “Roma I” (A. Bonomi);
  • A United Kingdom Perspective on the Rome I Regulation (J. Fawcett).

Parte II: Temi specifici.

  • La definizione dell’ambito di applicazione del regolamento Roma I: criteri generali e responsabilità precontrattuale (P. Bertoli);
  • I contratti di assicurazione tra mercato interno e diritto internazionale privato (P. Piroddi);
  • Contratti con i consumatori e regolamento Roma I (F. Seatzu);
  • La legge applicabile ai contratti individuali di lavoro nel Regolamento “Roma I” (F. Seatzu);
  • Il contratto internazionale di trasporto di persone (G. Contaldi);
  • Le relazioni intercorrenti tra il regolamento Roma I e le convenzioni internazionali (in vigore e non) (A. Bonfanti);
  • La legge applicabile alla negoziazione di strumenti finanziari nel regolamento Roma I (F.C. Villata);
  • La legge regolatrice delle conseguenze restitutorie e risarcitorie della nullità del contratto nei regolamenti Roma I e Roma II (Z. Crespi Reghizzi);
  • I contratti relativi alla proprietà intellettuale alla luce della nuova disciplina comunitaria di conflitto. Analisi critica e comparatistica (N. Boschiero).

Osservazioni conclusive (T. Treves).

Title: La nuova disciplina comunitaria della legge applicabile ai contratti (Roma I), edited by Nerina Boschiero, Giappichelli (Torino), 2009, XVI – 548 pages.

ISBN: 978-88-348-9562-7. Price: EUR 50. Available at Giappichelli.