International business

transactions: obligations
Lecture 5
Obligations of the seller: delivery

 The seller must deliver the goods, hand over any documents relating to them
and transfer the property in the goods, as required by the contract and
UNCCISG.
 Delivery
 There are two issues relating to delivery:
• place
• time.
 Delivery: basic points

 If the contract specifies the place that the goods should be delivered to and
when, then the seller must ensure that he delivers the goods at that place
and time. If the contract does not specify, the following rules apply:
 If the contract involves carriage of the goods, the seller must hand over the
goods to the first carrier for transmission to the buyer (Article 31(a)).
Delivery involving carriage: additional
points
 If the contract involves carriage, the seller must:
• clearly identify the goods to the contract when handing the goods over to the
carrier (by shipping documents, or by marking the goods) (Article 32(1))
• make relevant contracts for the carriage of the goods to the relevant place by
appropriate transportation and according to the usual terms applying to that
transportation (Article 32(2))
• provide insurance for the goods if the contract so provides (Article 32(3))
• if the contract does not provide for insurance, the seller must provide the buyer
with all relevant information in sufficient time to enable the buyer to insure the
goods while they are in transit (Article 32(3)).
Obligations of the seller: delivery

 Mohammed and Nigel have a contract for the sale of international goods.
Mohammed is delivering the goods to Nigel by sea. The goods are in three
metal containers, on which Mohammed has painted Nigel's name, business
address, telephone details and unique contract number. This fulfils
Mohammed's obligations to identify the goods to the contract when they are
handed over to the shipper.
 Delivery: time
 If the contract specifies the date on which the seller must deliver the goods, the
seller must deliver the goods on that date (Article33(a)) If the contract does not
so specify:
• but specifies a period within which the goods must be delivered, the seller must
deliver the goods within that period (Article 33(b)).
• In other cases, the seller must deliver the goods within a reasonable time after
the contract has been formed (Article 33(c)).

Handing over of documents (Article 34)

• If the seller is required to hand over documents relating to the goods, he must hand them
over at the time and place and in the form required by the contract.
Obligations of the seller: delivery

 Olumgbenga and Patience have a contract for Patience to buy 10 tonnes of

fresh fish. In this case, while no period for delivery is specified, reasonable time
will be a matter of days, otherwise the fish will deteriorate and go off.