Exchange Agreement: Legal Regulation and Parties’ Obligations
Exchange is a transaction involving the trade of goods or services. Under an exchange agreement, one party undertakes to transfer ownership of a certain item to the other party in return for another item. In the case of an exchange agreement, both parties are considered sellers of the goods they transfer and buyers of the goods they receive.
Unless otherwise specified in the agreement, it is presumed that the value of the exchanged items is equal and the exchange is made without any additional payments. The costs of delivering and receiving the items must be borne by the party responsible for transferring or accepting them. If the agreement specifies that the value of the exchanged items differs, the party transferring the item of lower value is not obligated to pay the price difference unless the agreement provides otherwise.
Both parties must fulfill their obligations to transfer the items simultaneously unless the agreement states otherwise. If the item obtained through the exchange is claimed by a third party, the receiving party has the right to demand either compensation for damages or the return of the item it transferred. A party that has accepted an item and later discovers that the transferring party was not its owner has the right to return the item to the transferring party. In such a case, the dishonest party cannot demand delivery of the items it was entitled to receive under the exchange agreement.