Die Zusendung unbestellter Ware. Vertrag, Rückgabe und Schadensersatz

The subject of "invio di merce non ordinata" (unsolicited goods) involves the situation in which a party (the sender) delivers goods to another party (the recipient) without the recipient having ordered such goods. The burning question here is whether a contract has been concluded, and if so, under what conditions, or if not, what rights and duties exist between the parties or vis a vis third parties.
The issues above relate to the branches of contract, restitution and tort. In fact, they assume even more topical significance when one considers the fact that the Italian Consumer Code prohibits a trader from supplying unsolicited goods to the consumer and demanding that the consumer pay for them, return them or hold them in safekeeping. In such a case the consumer is also exempted from having to provide any consideration.
The latter circumstances (in the context of the Italian Consumer Code), recently given the name "fornitura non richiesta" (inertia selling), do not correspond to the wider phenomenon of the "prestazioni non richieste" (unbestellte Leistungen), which goes far beyond the restricted scope of unsolicited goods, which forms the subject-matter of the present study. This not only serves to enhance the practical importance of the present research, but it also whets the academic appetite: the objective here is to verify whether it is possible to conduct a uniform study on the different cases of unsolicited goods in order to try to forge a robust link between the Italian Civil Code and Consumer Code, and hence make this area of the law as coherent as possible.
The above-mentioned cases were taken into account on an individual basis: the experiences of the legal systems “beyond the Alps” are crucial for contractual issues (Chapter II) as well as for questions of restitution and tort (Chapter III). In particular, the experiences of the German legal system are of importance here. In Germany the subject of unsolicited goods was studied even before the European Union forced the hands of all Member States in regulating this area. The matter was so thoroughly investigated in German doctrine that it makes it impossible for a study on this topic not to take into account the German contribution to this area.