Search for cases
CISG-online number
5765
Case name
Printed circuit boards case
Jurisdiction
France
Court
Cour d'appel de Paris (Court of Appeal Paris)
Chamber
Pôle 5 – Chambre 16 (Chambre commerciale internationale de Paris – CCIP) (Division 5 – Chamber 16 (International commercial chamber))
Date of decision
05 March 2019
Case nr./docket nr.
18/04137
Claimant 1
Respondent 1
Case History
Seller 1
Buyer 1
Category of goods
77: Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, not elsewhere specified, and electrical parts thereof (including non- electrical counterparts, not elsewhere specified, of electrical household-type equipment)
Goods as per contract
Printed circuit boards
CISG applicable
yes, Art. 1(1)(a)
CISG applied
yes, to individual sales contracts (orders) made within a framework agreement
(Domestic) law applied in addition
French law
Key CISG provisions applied
Art. 74
CISG provisions also cited
Art. 30; Art. 45; Art. 45–52; Art. 74–77
Non-provision-specific issues addressed
Distribution agreement; Framework agreement; Liability for sudden termination of a commercial relationship (rupture brutale des relations commerciales)
Full text and translation of decision 2
by Ulrich G. Schroeter
The present decision by the International Commercial Chamber of the Court of Appeal Paris arose from a "Logistics Agreement" concluded for a 10-year-period between an Italian buyer and a French seller of printed circuit boards (electronic components).
After the French seller had terminated the agreement, the Italian buyer brought a claim based on an alleged "abrupt termination" of the agreement ("rupture brutale") under the French Commercial Code. Most of the decision deals with this claim.
In addition, the Court of Appeal decided about counterclaims brought by the French seller against the Italian buyer (paras. 121–165 of the decision); to these counterclaims, it applied the CISG (mostly Art. 74 CISG).