Reproduced with permission from the Cornell Review of the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (1995) 51-94

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[Comments on interest issues in this case and in other German rulings]
[Article 78]

Article 78 allows for the collection of interest on any monetary arrearage, without prejudice to damages recoverable under Article 74. Unfortunately, Article 78 does not provide for the calculation of an appropriate interest rate. Accordingly, the allowed interest rate must be calculated under national law.[223] The issue is which national law is applicable to determine the interest rate. Most authors [224] and courts [LG Hamburg 26 September 1990; OLG Frankfurt 13 June 1991; OLG Frankfurt 18 January 1994; OLG München 2 March 1994; OLG Koblenz 17 September 1993; OLG Düsseldorf (6 U 119/93) 10 February 1994] [225] have generally agreed that the law applicable to the issue of interest is the Vertragsstatut (the law that governs the contract apart from CISG); in the absence of a choice of law provision in the contract, the applicable law would be the seller's law [OLG Koblenz 17 September 1993; OLG Düsseldorf (6 U 119/93) 10 February 1994].[226] At least one court decided that the creditor's law was applicable [LG Frankfurt 16 September 1991; see also LG Stuttgart 31 August 1989 and KG Berlin 24 January 1994 (Neither decision making clear whether interest was granted according to Article 78 or damages according to Article 74)] [227] and another court did not decide on the question because the results did not differ.[228] In addition, some authors have proposed other solutions, such as application of the law of the debtor's country[229] or of the country which issued the currency specified in the contract.[230] These solutions have not been adopted by the courts. The problem is of considerable importance since interest rates are rather low in some states (four or five percent in Austria and Germany) but much higher in others (ten percent in Italy and more than fifty percent in Bulgaria).[231] The contracting parties should avoid these uncertainties by agreeing on an interest rate or by choosing the applicable law.

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FOOTNOTES

* Professor of Law at the University of Bonn, Germany, from 1992 to February 1995. Currently, Professor of Law at the University of Linz, Austria. Address: Institut für Handels-und Wertpapierrecht, Universität Linz, A-4040 Linz-Auhof, Austria, Europe.

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223. CISG, supra note 4, art. 7(2). Article 7(2) also -- and primarily -- provides for a gap-filling according to general principles. But, in the present case, that does not seem to be possible because the Vienna Conference failed to agree on any principles.

224. See Gert Reinhart, Fälligheitszinsen und UN-Kaufrecht, 1991 IPRax 376 (1991); Herber & Czerwenka, supra note 16, at 347; Karollus, supra note 20, at 227; Piltz, supra note 21, at 280-82; Hermann Eberstein & Klaus Bacher, Art. 78: Zinsen, in Kommentar zum Einheitlichen UN-Kaufrecht 665, 672-73 (Ernst van Caemmerer & Peter Schlechtriem eds., 2d ed. 1995)

225. See Judgment of Sept. 26, 1990, LG Hamburg, 1990 RIW at 1019; Judgment of June 13, 1991, OLG Frankfurt am Main, 1991 RIW at 591-92; Judgment of Jan. 18, 1994, OLG Frankfurt am Main, 1994 RIW at 241; Judgment of Mar. 2, 1994, OLG München, 1994 RIW at 596-97. See generally Judgment of Sept. 17, 1993, OLG Koblenz, 1993 RIW at 938; Judgment of Feb. 10, 1994, OLG Düsseldorf, 1994 RIW at 1051.

226. See Judgment of Sept. 17, 1993, OLG Koblenz, 1993 RIW at 938; Judgment of Feb. 10, 1994, OLG Düsseldorf, 1994 RIW at 1051.

227. Judgment of Sept. 16, 1991, LG Frankfurt am Main, 1991 RIW at 954. See Hans Stall, Inhalt und Grenzen der Schadensersatzpflicht sowie Befreiung con der Haftung im UN-Kaufrecht, im Vergleich zu EKG und BGB, in Einheitlichen UN-Kaufrecht und nationales Obligationenrecht 257, 279-80 (Peter Schlechtriem ed., 1987). See also Judgment of Aug. 31, 1989, LG Stuttgart, 1990 IPRax at 317-18; Judgment of Jan. 24, 1994, KG Berlin, 1994 RIW at 683-84 (neither decision making clear whether interest was granted according to Article 78 or damages according to Article 74).

228. Judgment of June 13, 1991, OLG Frankfurt am Main, 1991 RIW at 591-92.

229. See Hans Stoll, Internationalprivatrechtliche Fragen bei der landesrechtlichen Ergänzung des Einheitlichen Kaufrechts, in Festschrift für Murad Ferid 495, 509-10 (Andreas Heldrich et al. eds., 1988).

230. See Wolfgang Grunsky, Anwendbares Recht und gesetzlicher Zinssatz, in Festschrift für Franz Merz 147, 147-57 (Walter Gerhardt et al. eds., 1992).

231. Perez, supra note 21, at 281-82.

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