Summary
Under Article 5(1)(b), first indent of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001, Italian courts do not have jurisdiction over a payment claim in an international contract for the sale of goods. In fact, the place of delivery of the goods, to be identified – unless the parties have agreed otherwise – with the place where the physical transfer of the goods took place, as a result of which the purchaser obtained, or should have obtained, actual power of disposal over those goods at the final destination of the sales transaction – and not, rather, with the place where the goods were delivered under the substantive provision of the applicable law – is situated in Germany. Accordingly, the manner of transport, the place of delivery to the carrier, the fact that the carrier was hired by the buyer, the presence of “Frei Haus/Free of Charge/Départ usine” clauses are irrelevant, lacking an explicit and joint will of the parties as to the modification of the place of actual delivery.