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CISG-online number
89
Case name
Beijing Metals & Minerals Import/Export Corp. v. American Business Center, Inc.
Jurisdiction
USA
Court
U.S. Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)
Judges
Harold R. DeMoss (Circuit Judge), Jacques L. Wiener (Circuit Judge), Rhesa H. Barksdale (Circuit Judge)
Date of decision
15 June 1993
Case nr./docket nr.
92-2171
Claimant 1
Name
Beijing Metals & Minerals Import/Export Corp.
Place of business
China
Role in transaction
Seller
Respondent 1
Name
American Business Center, Inc.
Place of business
USA
Role in transaction
Buyer
Case History
Beijing Metals & Minerals Import/Export Corp. v. American Business Center, Inc.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
USA, 01. 1992, CISG-online 3311
Present decision reversing and remanding in part, affirming in part
Seller 1
Name
Beijing Metals & Minerals Import/Export Corp.
Place of business
China
Role in trade
Manufacturer of the goods sold
Buyer 1
Name
American Business Center, Inc.
Place of business
USA
Role in trade
Distributor
Category of goods
69: Manufactures of metals, not elsewhere specified
Goods as per contract
Weight lifting equipment
CISG applicable
left open
(Domestic) law applied in addition
Texas law
CISG provisions also cited
Art. 46–52; parol evidence rule
Non-provision-specific issues addressed
Preemption of parol evidence rule; Remedies under domestic law for reprehensible conduct (fraud etc.)
This decision cites the following other CISG-online case 1
Filanto S.p.A. v. Chilewich Int'l Corp.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
USA, 14 April 1992 – 91 CIV 3253 (CLB), CISG-online 45
This decision is cited by 5
Nucap Industries, Inc. v. Robert Bosch LLC
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
USA, 31 March 2017 – 15 C 2207, CISG-online 2827
VLM Food Trading Int'l, Inc. v. Illinois Trading Comp. et al.
U.S. Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)
USA, 10 April 2014 – 13-1799 & 13-1697, CISG-online 2810
ECEM European Chemical Marketing BV v. The Purolite Comp.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
USA, 29 January 2010 – 05-3078, CISG-online 2090
Mitchell Aircraft Spares, Inc. v. European Aircraft Service AB
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
USA, 27 October 1998 – 97 C 5668, CISG-online 444
MCC-Marble Ceramic Center, Inc. v. Ceramica Nuova D'Agostino S.p.A.
U.S. Court of Appeals (11th Circuit)
USA, 29 June 1998 – 97-4250, CISG-online 342
Editorial remark
by Ulrich G. Schroeter
In the present decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) held that the parol evidence rule as recognized under Texas law also applies to CISG contracts. In is important to note that this is a rather isolated minority opinion; the vast majority of courts both in the U.S. and in other countries have since held that the parol evidence rule and similar rules under domestic laws are preempted by the Sales Convention and can therefore not be applied to CISG contracts.
Decision published in 3
993 Federal Reporter, Second Series (F.2d) (1993), 1178 [Text (excerpt) – in English]
Schweizerische Zeitschrift für internationales und europäisches Recht (SZIER) (1993), 667–668 [Abstract – in German]
Diritto del Commercio Internazionale (Dir. com. int.) No. 22, 658–659 [Abstract – in Italian]
CLOUT number
24
Case identifier in the old Albert H. Kritzer Database
930615u1
Comments on this decision 17
Peter J. Calleo, 'The inapplicability of the parol evidence rule to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods', 26 Hofstra Law Review (Hofstra L. Rev.) (2000), 799–833 [– in English]  
Vivian Grosswald Curran, 'The Interpretative Challenge to Uniformity: Book Review of Claude Witz, Les Premières applications jurisprudentielles du droit uniforme de la vente internationale (1995)', 15 Journal of Law & Commerce (J.L. & Com.) (1995), 175–199, at 192–194 [– in English]
Louis F. Del Duca & Patrick Del Duca, 'Practice Under the Convention on International Sale of Goods (CISG): A Primer for Attorneys and International Traders (Part I)', 27 Uniform Commercial Code Law Journal (UCC L.J.) (1995), 331–370, at 361 [– in English]
Larry A. DiMatteo, 'The CISG and the Presumption of Enforceability: Unintended Contractual Liability in International Business Dealings', 22 Yale Journal of International Law (Yale J. Int’l L.) (1997), 111–170, at 166 [– in English]  
Harry M. Flechtner, 'More U.S. Decisions on the U.N. Sales Convention: Scope, Parol Evidence, "Validity" and Reduction of Price Under Article 50', 14 Journal of Law & Commerce (J.L. & Com.) (1995), 153–176, at 154–169 [– in English]
Harry M. Flechtner, 'The Several Texts of the CISG in a Decentralized System: Observations on Translations, Reservations and other Challenges to the Uniformity Principle in Article 7(1)', 17 Journal of Law & Commerce (J.L. & Com.) (1998), 187–217, at 203 [– in English]
Alejandro M. Garro, 'L'application de la Convention de Vienne sur le continent américain', in: Ferenc Majoros (ed.), emptio-venditio inter nationes: Convention de Vienne sur la vente internationale de marchandises/The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG)/Wiener Übereinkommen betreffend Verträge über den internationalen Warenkauf, Basel: Recht und Gesellschaft (1997), 211–225, at 214–217 [– in French]
Chiara Giovannucci Orlandi, 'Procedural law issues and law Conventions', 5 Uniform Law Review/Revue de droit uniforme (Unif. L. Rev.) (2000), 23–41, at 32–36 [– in English]
Monique Jametti Greiner, Schweizerische Zeitschrift für internationales und europäisches Recht (SZIER) (1993), 653 [– in German]
Monica Kilian, 'CISG and the Problem with Common Law Jurisdictions', 10 Journal of Transnational Law and Policy (J. Transnat'l L. & Policy) (2001), 217–243, at 232–233 [– in English]  
Sonja A. Kruisinga, (Non-)conformity in the 1980 UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: A Uniform Concept?, Cambridge: Intersentia (2004), at 167 [– in English]
Ulrich Magnus, 'Stand und Entwicklung des UN-Kaufrechts', Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (ZEuP) (1995), 202–215, at 209 [– in German]
Marlyse McQuillen, 'The Development of a Federal CISG Common Law in U.S. Courts: Patterns of Interpretation and Citation', 61 University of Miami Law Review (U. Miami L. Rev.) (2007), 509–537, at 521 [– in English]  
David H. Moore, 'The Parol Evidence Rule and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: Justifying Beijing Metals & Minerals Import/Export Corp. v. American Business Center', Brigham Young University Law Review (BYU L. Rev.) (1995), 1347–1376 [– in English]  
Burghard Piltz, 'Neue Entwicklungen im UN-Kaufrecht', Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) (1994), 1101–1106 [– in German]
Christopher Sheaffer, 'The Failure of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and a Proposal for a New Uniform Global Code in International Sales Law', 15 Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law (Cardozo J. Int’l & Comp. L.) (2007), 461–495, at 478 [– in English]
Claude Witz, Les premières applications jurisprudentielles du droit uniforme de la vente internationale – Convention des Nations Unies, Paris: L.G.D.J. (1995), at 72–73 [– in French]
Full text and abstract of decision 2
Abstract of decision
CLOUT Abstract 24 (Language: English)
Full text of decision
Original language: English