Summary
In the current case an Italian company, filed an application for payment. The contract of sales of goods was concluded with a Polish company, which did not pay for the goods. The defendant argued that the applicant’s claim was barred by the statute of limitation, which is two years under the Polish Civil Code.
At the time of concluding the contract, the parties did not choose the law applicable. Consequently, the court stated that, according to Art. 4 par. 1 letter a of the Rome I Regulation, Italian law shall be applied. The court also pointed out that the provisions of the Rome I Regulations shall not prejudice the application of international conventions to which one or more Member States are parties. Subject to this, the court stated that the contract in question shall be governed by the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The court pointed out that the Convention does not contain the provision on limitation of the claims. Consequently, the court stated that the limitation period, of ten years, shall be governed by Italian provisions.