ABSTRACT

The Rome Convention establishes a rather complex regime for the treatment of certain consumer contracts. For this purpose, a consumer contract is defined by Art 5(1), which reads:

There is nothing in the Convention to suggest that the supplier must be a business or that he must know or believe that he is dealing with a consumer. It would seem likely that the first of these must be the case and the second probably so; the Giuliano and Lagarde report assumes both. If a consumer pretended to buy by way of trade, say, to obtain a trade discount, he should lose the protection of the special provisions. There is also no definition of what is ‘outside his trade or profession’ and it may be contentious when the goods have a dual function, for example, the doctor’s motor car. The report suggests that regard should be had to the primary purpose of the transaction.