Contrats de vente de cargaisons de sucre, C & F, Incoterms, Bangladesh, entre un vendeur anglais et un acheteur tchécoslovaque / Résiliation du contrat au motif que le vendeur n'aurait pas obtenu les lettres de crédit stipulées au contrat / Droit applicable au fond / Contrats signés au Bangladesh / Stockholm, siège de l'arbitrage, fixé par la Cour CCI /Référence à la Convention de La Haye de 1955, Art. 3(1) / Le domicile du vendeur constitue un facteur de rattachement important

En vertu de contrats de vente signés au Bangladesh, le vendeur anglais s'engageait à fournir deux cargaisons de sucre C& F (Bangladesh) et l'acheteur tchécoslovaque s'obligeait à fournir des lettres de crédit dans un délai déterminé. Le vendeur réclame des dommages-intérêts pour la non exécution alléguée des obligations de l'acheteur.

'The applicable law

Seller, as stated in the Terms of Reference, maintained that the dispute should be resolved with the application of English law, while Buyer maintained that the law of Bangladesh should be applied, since the contracts were entered into and signed in Dacca and the cargoes should be shipped to Bangladesh. However, Buyer did not present any evidence on the law of Bangladesh relating to the legal questions of the case and did not wish the arbitrator to perform his own research on such law but requested him to resolve the case assuming that the law of Bangladesh conformed with the relevant general principles of international commercial law.

The seller's domicile, under most national laws and under the 1955 Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to International Sales art. 3(1), is a strong connecting factor to the law of the seller's country. Although the contracts were negotiated and signed in Dacca where Buyer - without having an establishment there - was represented by E... and concluded re-sale contracts under barter arrangements with the government of Bangladesh and the goods were to be shipped to Bangladesh to be received by ultimate buyers in that country, I do not think that these factors would outweigh the seller's domicile as connecting factor. I therefore rule that the dispute shall be resolved according to English law.'