‘서류교부의무’와 관련한 CISG 판례 평석－대법원 2020.9.24 선고 2020다234262 판결－

In the ‘International Sale of Goods Convention’, the seller’s obligation to deliver documents’ is one of the most important parts of the delivery of goods. In civil practice, the seller’s obligation is mainly found in real estate sales contracts, however, the importance of its form and delivery may not be considered a main legal issue. On the other hand, itt is a very frequently discussed part in practice of the ‘International Sale of Goods Convention’. In this case, the seller insisted on payment of the price for the goods to the buyer saying that all performance was completed as agreed, and the buyer could not receive the goods because the seller breached the ‘obligation to inspect goods’ and the obligation to provide necessary documents for customs clearance. He asserted that he was not obligated to pay the bill. The lower court rejected both the defendant’s allegations of the seller’s violation of the ‘duty of inspection’ and the ‘duty of delivering documents’, and ruled that the defendant buyer violated the obligation to pay the price. The Supreme Court finally affirmed that the defendants must pay the plaintiff $110,000, along with interest. This precedent is a very valuable precedent that has gone up to the Supreme Court in this regard. Moreover, in this case, the principle related to the issuance of documents, which emphasizes the formal and procedural aspects, is very relaxed. It is expected that the reason for this is that the practical practice of ‘waiting bills of lading’ has broken this formality. The meaning of this review was reviewed as it allowed the seller to discuss the seller’s ‘obligation to deliver documents’ from a different perspective through the relevant precedent.