CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Gozen, Selene |
|---|---|
| Title | The Invocation of Force Majeure by Sellers Due To Coronavirus In International Sales Contracts Under CISG |
| Summary | By entering into a contract, parties agree to be legally bound by the provisions contained therein and perform their contractual duties in accordance. Pursuant to a sales agreement, a seller primarily undertakes the obligations to produce, sell and deliver the goods to the possession of buyer whereas a buyer primarily undertakes the obligations to make a payment in return and take the delivery of the goods. These obligations may vary due to the provisions contained in a contract but they are more or less similar also under an international sales contract. Even though the parties are bound with their legal obligations, there might be some unforeseeable incidents that happen beyond their control and eventually bar them from honoring their contract. These incidents are called force majeure and this legal concept has a very significant consequence of exempting the party at default from liability due to this alleged impediment. A very well acquainted example of this legal concept of force majeure is this novel contagious outbreak of Covid-19. This virus and the government-enacted measures in order to halt the spread of it have a very strong impact as to create an impediment for a seller to perform the undertaken contractual obligations, thus a seller might avail under the protection of this legal concept and be exempt from liability. Pursuant to Article 79 of United Nations Convention on Contracts for the Sale of Goods (CISG), there are three main requirements to be satisfied which are: beyond control, unforeseeability and being unable to avoid or overcome. The chance of invocation of this article with success is dependent on these requirements. For the purpose of this thesis, it shall be attempted to find an answer to the research question of “To what extent are the sellers in an international sales contract entitled to rely on the legislative principles of force majeure set in CISG as a consequence of coronavirus?” by discussing and evaluating potential circumstances the sellers might find themselves in. Despite the judges’ and arbitrators’ tendency to interpret this legal concept in a narrow manner, readers will be presented a broader interpretation of this legal concept in a way to allow sellers to avail under its protection, given the unprecedented and extraordinary nature of this virus. |
| Supervisor | Markus Petsche |
| Department | Legal Studies LLM |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/gozen_selene.pdf |
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