A Research On Treaty Implementation In The Context Of COVID-19

Since the outbreak of COVID-19,it has shown an alarming speed of spread and serious harm,posing a huge threat to the lives and health of people in many countries and regions around the world.The WORLD Health Organization(WHO)has designated COVID-19 as a public health emergency of national concern.In order to block the outbreak in a country’s domestic as well as the communication between countries and countries to take a certain prevention and control measures of the prevention and control measures to effectively block the spread of disease,but also to the communication between countries trade exchanges activities such as the normal conduct of obstacles,which also inevitably part to create obstacles for the implementation of the international treaty.Under the influence of the epidemic,various matters cannot be carried out normally,which leads to the non-implementation or temporary non-implementation of the treaty,and states parties are faced with international law liability for failing to fulfill their obligations under the treaty.If the COVID-19 outbreak is deemed to be force majeure or a change of circumstances under international law,the relevant countries can be exempted or reduced from their responsibilities or obligations.Force majeure and change of circumstances in international law are two different systems,which are different in the application of legal basis elements and legal consequences.To explore whether the COVID-19 outbreak constitutes force majeure or situational change,it is necessary to determine whether the COVID-19 outbreak meets the statutory constitutive requirements for force majeure or situational change.The constitutive requirements of force majeure include unforeseeable,unavoidable and insurmountable.The constitutive requirements for a change of circumstances include that some of the circumstances of the change must exist in the Contracting Party and that the change of circumstances occurring at the time must be fundamental and that the change of circumstances occurring must not have been foreseen by the Parties.The existence of these circumstances must originally constitute the necessary basis for the Parties to agree to be bound by the Treaty,and the effect of the change in circumstances must be to substantially alter the degree of obligations still pending under the Treaty.When exploring whether the COVID-19 outbreak meets the statutory requirements for force majeure or change of circumstances,factors such as the nature of the COVID-19 outbreak and the nature and timing of the conclusion of relevant treaties should be taken into consideration.According to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties(hereinafter referred to as the Convention),the performance of treaties may be suspended or terminated under legal conditions.The difference between suspension of performance and termination of performance lies in whether the performance of the treaty will be resumed.If force majeure or changes of circumstances result in permanent inperformance of the treaty or subsequent performance is meaningless,the relevant treaty will be terminated and the parties concerned will be permanently exempted from their treaty obligations.If force majeure or changes of circumstances result in temporary failure to perform the treaty,the implementation of the relevant treaty shall be suspended and the parties concerned shall be exempted from their treaty obligations for the time being.To determine whether the impact of COVID-19 on the treaty is permanent or temporary,we need to discuss on a case-by-case basis according to the nature of the specific treaty.Use of force majeure or change the situation of the core problem is how to objectively correct cognizance of force majeure or change the situation.In the process of determination,due to the complexity and variability of the situations occurring in practice and the deviations in the understanding of relevant theories of force majeure and situational change in international law,different countries concerned may draw different conclusions,which may lead to differences and contradictions and trigger international disputes.As a party to the treaty,China will inevitably face such problems.In the face of the treaty disputes caused by the epidemic,China should,on the one hand,strengthen epidemic prevention and control,strive to eradicate the epidemic at an early date and fundamentally solve the problem.The other party shall use various dispute settlement methods stipulated by international law to settle disputes in a timely and effective manner,create a favorable international environment and safeguard national interests.