ABSTRACT
In both national and international transactions involving the sale of goods, title is often retained by the seller until the buyer has fulfilled certain obligations, in most cases, payment of the purchase price. It is quite common for the general sales conditions of suppliers of goods in the Netherlands to contain such a retention of title clause. Retention of title is a security device: the supplier, in effect, obtains security for extending credit to the buyer. Insofar as the goods themselves are concerned, a retention of title represents the most far-reaching type of security which the supplier can have. If the purchase price is not paid, he may reclaim the goods as their unconditional owner, provided the buyer still has them in his possession and they can still be identified. Another advantage of title retention is that it requires no special formalities other than an agreement, which may in principle even be oral; in practice, it is usually provided for in a clause in the supplier's general conditions of supply.
