国际商事合同不可抗力条款对“新冠肺炎”疫情适用法律分析

2020年年初中国爆发的“新型冠状病毒肺炎”可能引发一系列的国际商事合同纠纷。国际商事合同不可抗力条款的约定直接影响着新冠肺炎疫情能否适用及如何适用。在纠纷解决时需对涉案国际商事合同适用法律进行识别。适用国际条约(如CISG)、中国合同法的不同情况下,新冠肺炎疫情能否构成具体案例情景中不可抗力或艰难情势需要具体分析相关法律问题和事实情况。尽管我国法院在处理非典事件涉及不可抗力的实践可做参考,但非典事件与本次新冠肺炎有明显的不同。在分析新冠肺炎疫情不可抗力国际商事合同纠纷时要着重考虑具体事件与合同不履行之间的因果关系。国际商事合同当事方不能笼统地以新冠肺炎疫情事件为不可抗力而当然地认为其违约责任可以免除。

The Legal Issues of the Force Majeure Clause in International Commercial Contract Applicable to the COVID-19

COVID-19 outbreak in China in early 2020 may trigger a series of international commercial contract disputes.The wording of the force majeure clause in international commercial contract could directly affect its applicability to COVID-19 and how to apply it.It is necessary to identify the applicable law of the international commercial contract involved in the case.Whether COVID-19 can constitute a force majeure or rebus sic stantibus in specific cases,it should be analyzed in accordance with international treaties(such as CISG)and/or Chinese contract laws.The cases related to SARS could give some guidelines to the COVID-19 events when judging the force majeure,however,the late is more serious than the former.When analyzing the COVID-19 as the force majeure event in the international commercial contract,we should consider the causality between the concrete events and the contract nonperformance.The contract party should not take the COVID-19 granted as the force majeure event and therefore discharge its obligation of performance without carrying the burden of proofs.