Case number: 92
Article number: sales convention / 1(1)(b); 6
Thessaurs issue:
Country of decision: Italy
Year of decision: 1994
Type of decision: Arbitral award

Case 92: CISG 1(1)(b); 6
Ad hoc Arbitral Tribunal - Florence 19 April 1994
Societ X v. Societ Y
Excerpts published in Italian: Diritto del commercio internazionale 1994 (8.3-4), 861
Commented on by Cappuccio in Diritto del commercio internazionale 1994 (8.3-4), 867
Reported on in English: [1995] UNILEX, D.94-9

A contract concluded by an Italian seller and a Japanese buyer for the supply of leather and/or textile wear contained a clause
under which the contract was to be "governed exclusively by Italian law".

By majority, the arbitral tribunal decided that CISG did not apply to the contract, either because Japan had not yet ratified
CISG or because the contract itself had been made subject exclusively to Italian law. In the view of the tribunal, the choice of
Italian law by the parties amounted to an implicit exclusion of CISG (art. 6 CISG).

One of the arbitrators, dissenting, held that CISG did apply since the choice of Italian law confirmed that the parties intended
to apply CISG pursuant to article 1(1)(b) CISG and was not a declaration pursuant to art. 6 CISG.