COVID-related disputes reach the Dutch courts

Since the early days of the COVID pandemic, authors have predicted that the CISG may play a role in disputes about international sales contracts that have not or not correctly been performed due to the pandemic. Much has been written about the application and interpretation of CISG provision in such contexts (a small collection of publications can be found here).

Now a related, but different group of cases has started to appear in the courts, namely disputes over the delivery of goods that arguably were only bought because of the COVID pandemic. An example are two recent decisions by Dutch courts of first instance, both involving CISG sales contracts over face masks (in Dutch: 'mondkapjes'):