Art. 48 CISG

(1) Subject to article 49, the seller may, even after the date for delivery, remedy at his own expense any failure to perform his obligations, if he can do so without unreasonable delay and without causing the buyer unreasonable inconvenience or uncertainty of reimbursement by the seller of expenses advanced by the buyer. However, the buyer retains any right to claim damages as provided for in this Convention.

(2) If the seller requests the buyer to make known whether he will accept performance and the buyer does not comply with the request within a reasonable time, the seller may perform within the time indicated in his request. The buyer may not, during that period of time, resort to any remedy which is inconsistent with performance by the seller.

(3) A notice by the seller that he will perform within a specified period of time is assumed to include a request, under the preceding paragraph, that the buyer make known his decision.

(4) A request or notice by the seller under paragraph (2) or (3) of this article is not effective unless received by the buyer.

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Secretariat Commentary

The Secretariat Commentary on Art. 42 of the 1978 New York Draft, predecessor to Art. 48 CISG, gives insight into the drafters' unterstanding on the eve of the 1980 Vienna Diplomatic Conference.

Commentary on the Draft Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, prepared by the Secretariat (UN Doc. A/CONF.97/5), in: United Nations Conference on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, Vienna, 10 March – 11 April 1980, Official Records: Documents of the Conference and Summary Records of the Plenary Meetings and of the Meetings of the Main Committees, New York: United Nations (1991), pp. 14 et seq., at pp. 40—41

Overview of case law on Art. 48 CISG: UNCITRAL Digest

The UNCITRAL Digest on the CISG can be used as a starting point to discover the relevant case law on this article.

2016 UNCITRAL Digest of case law on Art. 48 CISG

Interpretation of Art. 48 CISG: Selected issues discussed in case law

"Subject to article 49" (Art. 48(1) CISG): Does the right to avoid the contract (Art. 49) trump the seller's right to cure (Art. 48(1))?

Under which circumstances can the seller cure the non-conformities without "unreasonable delay", "unreasonable inconvenience" and "uncertainty of reimbursement" (Art. 48(1) CISG)?

Can the buyer ignore the seller's right to cure under Art. 48(1) CISG and immediately repair the goods or have them repaired and request the seller to pay for repair?

No:

Cooling machine case
Oberster Gerichtshof (Austrian Supreme Court)
Austria, 14 January 2002 – 7 Ob 301/01t, CISG-online 643

Buyer has no right to recover cost incurred for self-repair of the non-conforming goods if seller still had a right to cure (Art. 48(1) CISG) at the time of repair

Hungarian injection moulding tools case
Bundesgerichtshof (German Supreme Court)
Germany, 24 September 2014 – VIII ZR 394/12, CISG-online 2545

Buyer has no right to recover cost incurred for self-repair of the non-conforming goods if seller still had a right to cure (Art. 48(1) CISG) at the time of repair

Yes:

Armacom EBVBA v. Geurts Trucks BV
Rechtbank Gelderland (District Court Gelderland)
Netherlands, 30 July 2014 – C/05/250706 / HA ZA 13-630, CISG-online 2541

Buyer can generally claim the cost of repair under the CISG, but his damages claim might be reduced under Art. 77 CISG if allowing repair by the seller would have been a reasonable measure to mitigate the damage

Dutch coffee grinder case
Rechtbank Gelderland (District Court Gelderland)
Netherlands, 25 January 2019 – 7296250, CISG-online 4400

Buyer can generally claim the cost of repair under the CISG, but his damages claim was reduced under Art. 77 CISG, because the cost of repair exceeded the cost of the coffee grinder

Till Maier-Lohmann, 'Buyer's self-repair of non-conforming goods versus seller's right to cure under Article 48 of the CISG', 24(1) Uniform Law Review/Revue de droit uniforme (Unif. L. Rev.) (2019), 58–72 [– in English]

Is the seller under a duty to inform the buyer of his intention to cure the non-conforming goods and does he forfeit his right to cure if he fails to inform the buyer?

Yes:

Hungarian injection moulding tools case
Bundesgerichtshof (German Supreme Court)
Germany, 24 September 2014 – VIII ZR 394/12, CISG-online 2545

The seller is under a duty due to Art. 7(1) CISG to inform the buyer if he wants to cure the non-conformities himself. If the seller omits to inform the buyer of his intention to cure, he loses his right to cure under Art. 48(1) CISG

No:

There is no explicit case law that argues against the duty, but apart from the German Supreme Court no judicial body has accepted the duty either

Can Art. 48 CISG be applied to a penalty clause in the contract, i.e. does the seller have a right to cure before the penalty clause can be invoked by the buyer?

No:

Oxygene v. Tejidos Brugues S.L.
Audiencia Provincial de Madrid (Court of Appeal Madrid)
Spain, 18 October 2007 – 865/2007, CISG-online 2082

Art. 48 CISG contains only a general rule that applies to ordinary cases of breaches of contract, while, in contrast, a penalty clause concerns only certain kinds of breach and is based on its own differentiated and autonomous nature