CISG and Product Liability: A Critical Analysis of a French Supreme Court Decision in IPRax
Friedrich Niggemann
Friedrich Niggemann, avocat honoraire and Rechtsanwalt i.R., former member of our firm, is a specialist in conflit of laws and German- French legal issues.
In his article published in Nr. 4/2026 of the in the high ranking German legal review IPRax analyses the decision of the French cour de cassation of 23.5.2023 giving rise to the question, whether the application of the CISG excludes product liability claims. Whereas the French supreme court holds in favor of an exclusive application of the Convention and thus adopts an opinion so far only once expressed in international cases having applied the CISG, two decisions of the same court, rendered just a month earlier, come to the opposite result between national sales law and product liability.
Friedrich adopts a critical stance to the exclusion of product liability claims when applying the CISG and favors leaving this question to the applicable nationals law. Moreover, the legal situation created by the decision of the French Supreme Court y entails surprising possibilities for choice of law clauses of French law.
To obtain the full article, you may contact Mr. Friedrich Niggemann at the following address: fniggemann@wanadoo.fr