The Application of Force Majeure and Hardship Clauses in Ethiopia and China in Light of International Law in Situations of COVID19 Pandemic: The Law and Practice
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic has multiple consequences and knocked multiple disciplines after its occurrence throughout the globe. Among the disciplines touched by the pandemic is the role of law presented as an excuse for the responsibility of non-performance of owing to the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic highly affects international commitments, such as international investment contracts and other similar undertakings. Therefore, this paper questioned the status of international law in giving immunities for states for non-performance of international obligations during the pandemic periods. In doing so, the paper tried to compare and contrast the legal system of China and Ethiopia by taking international commercial law as a mirror. The findings revealed that most jurisdictions give immunities for the non-performance of the states’ commitments owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Words
COVID-19; Force Majeure; Hardship Clauses; International Commercial Contract; International legal responsibility; CISG; China; EthiopiaFull Text:
PDFReferences
BEITEN BURKHARDT, “COVID-19 Outbreak in China: Impact on Commercial Contracts and Potential Remedies”, 2020.
Federica Padden, and Freya Jephcott, “COVID-19 and Defenses in the law of state responsibility”, EJIL, 2020
Martins Paperinskis, COVID-19 Claims and the Law of International Responsibilities, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies 11(2020) 311-330.
Renzo Cavalieri, Vincenzo Salvatore, An Introduction to International Contract Law, Giappichelli, 2019.
Andrew T. Guzman, “The Design of International Agreements”, EJIL (2005), vol.16, No.4, 579-612.
M. Sornarajah, The International Law on Foreign Investment, Cambridge University Press, 3rd ed., 2010.
Rudlof Dolzer and Christoph Schreuer, Principles of International Investment Law, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2012.
Stephen Schill, The Multilaterlization of International Investment Law, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Surya P. Subedi, International Investment Law: Reconciling Policy and Principle, Hart Publishing, 2008.
Wenhua Shan, Jiuyuan Su (eds.), China and International Investment Law: Twenty Years of ICSID Membership, BRILL NIJHOFF, 2015.
Guiguo Wang, International Investment Law: A Chinese Perspective, Routledge, 2015.
Marc Bungenbeng, and John Gribel et al (eds.), Investment Law, Hart Publishing, 2015.
Christoph H. Schreuer, and Loretta Maliutoppl et al (eds.), The ICSID Convention: A Commentary, Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed., 2009.
Bruno Zeller, CISG and the Unification of International Trade Law, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2008.
Peter Schlechtriem and Petra Butler, UN Law on International Sales: The UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2009.
Bruno Zeller, Damages under the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, Oceana Publications, Inc., 2005.
John Felemegas (eds.), An International Approach to the Interpretation of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (1980) as Uniform Sales Law, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Marian Hoeks, Multimodal Transport Law: The Law Applicable to the Multimodal Contract for the Carriage of Goods, Kluwer Law International BV, 2010.
Lukas Klee, International Construction Contract Law, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2018.
Jola Gjuzi, Stabilization Clauses in International Investment Law: A Sustainable Development Approach, Springer, 2018.
Rodrigo Momberg Uribe, “Change of Circumstances in International Instruments of Contract Law: The Approach of CISG, PICC, PECL and DCFR”, (2011) 15(2) VJ 233.
Catherine H. Gibson, “Beyond Self-Judgment: Exceptions Clauses in US BITS”, 38 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL 1(2015), 1-55.
Ingeborg Schwenzer, “Force Majeure and Hardship in International Sales Contract”, 39 VUWLR (2008) 709.
Jarrod Hepburn, “The Role of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts in Investment Treaty Arbitration”, 64 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 905(2015).
ICC Force Majeure and Hardship Clauses of March 2020 (Long form and short form Clauses).
The United Nations Convention on the Contracts for the International Sale of Goods [11, April 1980 CISG].
Junwei Fu, Modern European and Chinese Contract Law: A comparative Study of Party Autonomy, Tilburg University School of Law, 2010.
LI WEL, “Judicial Interpretation in China”, Willamette Journal of International Law and Dispute Resolution”, Vol. 5, No.1 (1997), pp. 87-112.
The Civil Code of the Empire of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 165 of 1960, Extraordinary Issue No.2 of 1960 of the Negarit Gazetta, Came into force on the 11th day of September, 1960.
Abera, Z. (2016), “Ethiopian Sales Law in the Light of International Laws and Principles of Contract”, Open Access Library Journal, 1-10.
Yohannes Hailu Tessema, “Force Majeure and the Doctrine of Frustration under the UNIDROIT Principle, CISG, PECL, and the Ethiopian Law of Sales: Comparative Analysis”, Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization, Vol.58, 2017.
The Commercial Code of the Empire of Ethiopian Proclamation No.166 OF 1960, an Extraordinary Issue No.3 of 1960 of the Negarit Gazetta, came into force on the 11th day of September, 1960 (The 1960 Commercial Code of Ethiopia”).
Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Proclamation No. 1/1995, come into full force and effect as of the 21st day of August 1995 (“The FDRE Constitution”).
Ethiopian Federal Courts Proclamation Re-amendment Proclamation No.454/2005.
HA Tura, “Uniform Application of Law in Ethiopia: Effects of Cassation Decisions of Federal Supreme Court”, African Journal of Legal Studies 7(2014) 203-231.
Global Insurance Company vs. Nib Transport S.C., Cassation Division of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia, Vol.5, File No. 26565, 2008, pp. 88-93.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.