Facts
Company [A. GmbH], domiciled in Germany, delivered several vehicles to company [B. GmbH] under a reservation of title agreement. When creditor R. seized these vehicles in Switzerland as part of enforcement proceedings against [B. GmbH], [A. GmbH] claimed ownership of the vehicles based on the valid reservation of title agreement under German law. However, the Swiss courts rejected this claim on the grounds that, under Swiss law, a reservation of title agreement is only valid in Switzerland if it is registered in the registry provided for in Art. 715 CC, which was not the case here.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal upheld the judgments of the lower courts. It considered that the registration of reservation of title agreements is a matter of public policy in Switzerland, so that an agreement validly concluded abroad without this formality cannot be recognized in Switzerland. Although this solution may cause inconvenience for the foreign contracting party, it is justified by the…