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The dispute to which the present decision relates arose from a domestic sales contract over ventilators concluded in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis between an Irish company as seller and the Irish publish health administration as buyer. When the seller brought a claim for payment of the outstanding contract price in the High Court of Ireland, the buyer argued that the contract included an ICC arbitration clause, so that the Irish courts had no jurisdiction over the dispute.

The decision's (limited) relevance for the CISG follows from the choice-of-law clause in the contract that made an express (although not entirely clear) reference to the CISG. The sections of the decision briefly addressing the applicable law issue read:

"50. Clause 20 of the contract is headed “Applicable Law”. It provides as follows:

“The present Contract, its content as well as any unforeseen circumstance arising from it, shall be subject to the applicable laws, and particularly to the United Nations Convention on international goods and sale contracts, and by default to the trade practices established therein.”

51. There was initially disagreement between the parties as to the meaning and proper interpretation of clause 20 in terms of the applicable law. However, both parties ultimately agreed in their written submissions that the law applicable to the contract is Irish law."

The Court eventually found that the contract contained a valid arbitration clause and therefore referred the parties to arbitration.