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CISG-online number
7516
Case name
Teak and Eucalyptus trees case
Jurisdiction
Germany
Court
Oberlandesgericht Hamm (Court of Appeal Hamm)
Date of decision
29 June 2021
Case nr./docket nr.
34 U 128/20
Claimants 2
Respondent 1
Case History
Related Case
Seller 1
Buyers 2
Category of goods
29: Crude animal and vegetable materials, not elsewhere specified
Goods as per contract
60 Teak trees and 575 Eucalyptus trees, planted in an (unspecified) foreign country (as object of an investment contract)
Price
40'715.79 EUR (Euro)
CISG applicable
no – the present decision merely refers to the CISG in interpreting other rules of law
(Domestic) law applied in addition
German law
Relevant CISG provisions not cited
Art. 6
Non-provision-specific issues addressed
Definition of 'goods'
Full text of decision 1
by Ulrich G. Schroeter
The present appellate decision deals with the jurisdiction of the German courts over a dispute arising from a so-called „wood investment contract“, by way of which a German couple had purchased various trees planted in a foreign country. The Court of Appeal Hamm assesses the jurisdiction in applying the EU‘s Brussels I (recast) Regulation and the law applicable to the contract in applying the EU‘s Rome I Regulation, in particular its Art. 6 on the law applicable to consumer contracts.
In the latter context, the Court of Appeal interprets the term „a contract relating to a right in rem in immovable property“ in Art. 6(4)(c) of the Rome I Regulation, and (in para. 35 of the decision) refers to the concept of „goods“ as construed under the CISG, which has been equated with movable items. The Court eventually concludes that planted trees are not immovable property.