Belarusian Supreme Court issues a ruling on the conformity of lumber

On 19 December 2019, the Supreme Court (Judicial Collegium for economic cases) of the Republic of Belarus (Высший суд Республики Беларусь) reached a decision in the Belarusian coniferous timber case II. The decision’s full text, originally in Russian, has been translated into English by Usen Tastanbekov, a graduate student from Maqsut Naribayev University and Tashkent State University of Law. We would like to express our gratitude for the translation, which can be accessed via the case presentation about CISG-online 4819 (see below).

The dispute that formed the basis of the decision originated from a CISG contract for the sale of edged sawn softwood or hardwood concluded between a Belarusian seller and Latvian buyer. The buyer advanced the argument that the goods (lumber) delivered by the seller were of an inadequate quality, which prompted the initiation of legal proceedings.

The buyer asserted that they were entitled to avoid the contract and demand restitution of the purchase price in accordance with Arts. 49(1)(a) and 81(2) CISG. The courts of first and second instance rejected the claim on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to support the assertion that the seller delivered goods of substandard quality.

The Supreme Court upheld the aforementioned decisions and rejected the buyer’s claim. In particular, it highlighted that the customs declarations were consistent with the invoice for the goods, indicating that the seller did not deliver goods of substandard quality.