Case number: 163
Article number: sales convention / 66; 67
Thessaurs issue:
Country of decision: Hungary
Year of decision: 1996
Type of decision: Arbitral award

Case 163: CISG 66; 67

Hungary: Arbitration Court attached to the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Arbitral award in case No. VB/96074 of 10 December 1996

Original in English

Unpublished

A Yugoslav company sold and delivered caviar to a Hungarian company. According to their contract "the buyer has to pick up the fish eggs at the seller's address and take the goods to his facilities in Hungary". Payment was due two weeks after the delivery of the goods, at which time the UN embargo against Yugoslavia took effect in Hungary. The claimant assigned the claim for the price of the goods to a company located in Cyprus. The respondent acknowledged the assignment, but could not pay on the basis that the UN embargo was a force majeure.

The arbitral court found that the damage caused by force majeure had to be borne by the party to whom the risk had passed, i.e., the respondent. In this connection, the arbitral court found it necessary to point out that the risk of freight had to be borne by the respondent, unless the contract of the parties or the applicable law provided otherwise (article 67 CISG). The respondent could not be exculpated by proving that the damage was owing to an act or omission of the claimant (article 66 CISG).

Accordingly, the arbitral court held that the respondent was obliged to pay the price of the delivered goods with interest.