CISG CASE PRESENTATION

Belgium 29 October 2003 Appellate Court Ghent (ECS BV v. DKR NV) (Cooling installations case) [translation available]
[Cite as: http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/031029b1.html]

Case Table of Contents

• Case identification
• Classification of issues present
• Editorial remarks
• Citations to case abstracts, texts, and commentaries
• Case text (English translation)

• Guide to links contained in case presentations

Case identification

DATE OF DECISION: 20031029 (29 October 2003)

JURISDICTION: Belgium

TRIBUNAL: Hof van Beroep [Appellate Court] Ghent

JUDGE(S): E. Teirlinck, J. Baudrez, A. Deene

CASE NUMBER/DOCKET NUMBER: 2002/AR/1855

CASE NAME: ECS BV v. DKR NV

CASE HISTORY: 1st instance Rb van Koophandel Kortrijk 28 June 2002

SELLER'S COUNTRY: Belgium (plaintiff)

BUYER'S COUNTRY: Netherlands (defendant)

GOODS INVOLVED: Placing of cooling installations and material necessary for the works

Classification of issues present

APPLICATION OF CISG: No. CISG-Belgium database summary: "CISG not applicable – most important part of agreement: services – sale of moveable goods small part of agreement"

APPLICABLE CISG PROVISIONS AND ISSUES

Key CISG provisions at issue: Article 3(2)

Classification of issues using UNCITRAL classification code numbers:

3B [Services preponderant part of obligation]

Descriptors: Services

Editorial remarks

• Unavailable

Citations to case abstracts, texts, and commentaries

CITATIONS TO ABSTRACTS OF DECISION

(a) UNCITRAL abstract: Unavailable

(b) Other abstracts

Unavailable

CITATIONS TO TEXT OF DECISION

Original language (Dutch): CISG-Belgium database of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven <http://www.law.kuleuven.ac.be/ipr/eng/cases/2003-10-29.html>

Translation (English): Text presented below

CITATIONS TO COMMENTS ON DECISION

Unavailable

Queen Mary Case Translation Programme

[Parties concluded a contract for the delivery and placing of machinery, i.e., cooling installations. The delivery included goods, services and labor.]

[...]

The parties agree that the services were provided in Belgium by a Belgian contractor and they correctly apply Belgian law. According to the common law (Article 1247 Belgian Civil Code, first paragraph), payment must principally be done at the place that is indicated by the agreement and nowhere is it shown that a different statutory rule would be applicable. In any event, the CISG (Article 1) is for goods and it is explicitly not applicable to agreements in which the preponderant part of the obligations of the party who furnishes the goods consists in the supply of labor or other services (Article 3(2)), as in the case at hand.

[...]

FOOTNOTES

* All translations should be verified by cross-checking against the original text.

** Kristof Cox is a researcher at the Institute for International Trade Law at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). He is preparing a Ph.D. on the effects of an arbitration award on third parties. Further, he regularly publishes articles and case notes on the CISG and International Commercial Arbitration. Kristof Cox can be contacted at <Kristof.cox@law.kuleuven.be>.