Wine Law

WINE SALE 383 aspects, by the 1980 Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods , which only applies to countries that take part in it. This Convention facilitates international trade by laying down common rules that replace the rules of domestic law governing the contract of sale and that must be applied in the case of sales falling within the Convention’s requirements. It shall apply to the international sale of goods in which the parties to the contract have their place of business in the Contracting States [Art. 1(1)(a)], or where the rules of private international law identify the law of a Contracting State as applicable to the contract [Art. 1(1)(b)]. Nevertheless, the parties may decide to exclude the application of the Convention or derogate from its provisions under the principle of contractual autonomy (Art. 6). Therefore, when concluding a contract of sale or supply, attention must be paid to several fundamental aspects, most of which are governed by the Vienna Convention. Of course, this also applies to online sales (even if with its peculiarities). 7. INTERNATIONAL SALE CONTRACT: KEY POINTS What are the key points of an international contract for the sale of wine? Below some indications taking in example Italy and France as contracting States will be highlighted. Generally the international sales contract model is divided into two parts, one part relating to special conditions and the other relating to general conditions . The first one will contain agreements concerning the contract’s essential requirements – the formation of the agreement, the indication of the contracting parties, the object, the price, the terms of return and the methods of payment; while the second will cover the more strictly legal aspects of the contract, such as the choice of the applicable law, the methods of dispute resolution, the guarantees, the manner of termination of the contract. It is worth noting that the parties to the contract can be modified according to their specific needs (i.e online or offline sales and bulk or bottled wine sales), also taking into account the respective countries’ laws and peculiarities. The model taken into consideration is drawn up with reference to sales of products intended for resale and in which the buyer does not assume the role of final consumer but rather that of seller. Therefore, specific consumer protection measures are not considered, which is another issue of fundamental importance and would deserve to be discussed in depth. Moreover, the model is designed to regulate individual sales and not continuous supply agreements, which is why it does not include clauses typical of long-term contracts such as price reviews.