In a dispute regarding a purchase of three dressage horses (value 1,8 Million euros) the Court of Den Bosch issued on1 June 2016 its final decision dismissing the buyer’s claims. It must be noted that prior to this law suit the foreign buyer and its stakeholder, a internationally well-known dressage amazon, initiated several proceedings in the Netherlands that all were dismissed.
The Court agreed with Schelstraete Lawyers that the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (Vienna, 1980) (CISG) was applicable to the respective purchase agreements and the seller is not liable for any lack of conformity of the goods if at the time of the conclusion of the contract the buyer knew or could not have been unaware of such lack of conformity. A later established anomaly does not form a defect as such or a fundamental breach of the contract on the seller’s side that would justify the annulment of the purchase agreement. Such has not been established in the case. This judgment is quite interesting as the Court clearly outlined the criteria of the applicability of the CISG as well as the criteria that must be taken into account while notifying the seller with regards of the alleged non-conformity.
EUAEL advises its clients to check in the international context whether the CISG can be applicable to an agreement. Even if parties did not choose the CISG to be applicable to the agreement, the treaty can still be applicable. The applicability of the CISG can significantly influence the legal positions of the parties compared to the internal Dutch law. EUAEL’s client was assisted in this matter by Messrs. Schelstraete and Wawrzyniak.
