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CISG-online number
6281
Case name
Taiwanese toys case
Jurisdiction
Germany
Court
Oberlandesgericht Hamburg (Court of Appeal Hamburg)
Chamber
6. Zivilsenat (6th panel for civil matters)
Date of decision
14 October 2021
Case nr./docket nr.
6 U 116/20
Claimant 1
Place of business
Germany
Role in transaction
Seller’s assignee
Respondent 1
Place of business
Switzerland
Role in transaction
Buyer
Case History
Taiwanese toys case
Landgericht Hamburg (District Court Hamburg)
Germany, 04 June 2020 – 403 HKO 71/19, CISG-online 6244
Present decision
Seller 1
Place of business
Taiwan
Role in trade
Manufacturer
Buyer 1
Place of business
Switzerland
Role in trade
Dealer / Trader
Category of goods
89: Miscellaneous manufactured articles, not elsewhere specified
Goods as per contract
Children's toys
Price
27'224.46 USD (U.S. Dollar)
CISG applicable
no, requirements of Art. 1(1)(a), (b) not fulfilled
(Domestic) law applied in addition
Taiwanese law
Key CISG provisions applied
Art. 1(1)(a); Art. 1(1)(b)
CISG provisions also cited
Art. 57
Non-provision-specific issues addressed
Jurisdiction of the courts at the place of performance of obligations arising from a CISG contract under the 2007 Lugano Convention; Status of Taiwan under the CISG
This decision cites the following other CISG-online case 1
Portuguese apple juice concentrate case
Oberlandesgericht Celle (Court of Appeal Celle)
Germany, 11 November 1998 – 9 U 87/98, CISG-online 507
Editorial remark
by Ulrich G. Schroeter

The present decision briefly addresses the status of Taiwan under the CISG, albeit without providing any detailed reasoning. The respective passage (in para. 25 of the decision) reads in translation (emphases added):

"Where the respective contractual obligations have to be performed must be determined in accordance with the substantive law applicable via the forum's rules of conflict of laws (lex causae; German Supreme Court, Judgment of 27 April 2010 – IX ZR 108/09 –, BGHZ 185, 241–252, para. 15, juris, referring to European Court of Justice, Judgment of 6 October 1976 – Tessili, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (1977), 491). In the present case, Art. 4(1)(a) of the Rome I Regulation determines that contracts for the sale of goods are governed by the law of the country where the seller has his habitual residence. In this context, primarily the CISG is decisive (Thorn in Palandt, BGB, 79th ed., Art. 4 Rom I-VO para. 5), but this Convention is presently inapplicable. According to its Art. 1(1), the CISG applies only if both States in which the parties have their place of business are CISG Contracting States, or if the rules of private international law lead to the application of the law of a CISG Contracting State. Neither is the case here, because the seller Y[...] has its place of business in Taiwan, and Taiwan is (in contrast to Switzerland) not a Contracting State of the CISG. As a consequence, Art. 4(1)(a) of the Rome I Regulation results in the place of performance of Y[...]'s claim for payment of the contract price having to be determined in accordance with Taiwanese law."


Decision published in 2
Transportrecht (TranspR) (2022), 505–511 [Full text – in German]
Recht der Transportwirtschaft (RdTW) (2023), 65–68 [Full text – in German]
Full text of decision 1
Full text of decision