Research On Application Of CISG Article 79 Against The Background Of PHEIC

Since the outbreak of COVID-19,it quickly spread to the world.The COVID-19 has caused a sustained and far-reaching impact on the world economy and trade,and the World Health Organization immediately recognized it as PHEIC.International trade in goods is more susceptible to PHEIC due to its long cycle,multiple transaction links and complicated application of laws,especially the implementation of international trade in goods contracts.The parties to a contract affected by especially the implementation of international trade in goods contracts will bear the liability for breach of contract if they are unable to fulfill their contractual obligations as scheduled and hope to be exempted from the liability for breach of contract because of PHEIC.The parties to a dispute over a contract for the international sale of goods may choose to apply CISG Article 79 to claim exemption from liability,the parties to the dispute on the contract of international sale of goods can choose to apply CISG Article79 to claim exemption from liability.CISG Article 79,as an exception,is often invoked by the debtor in order to exempt it from liability,but whether it can be exempted from liability still needs to be analyzed according to the specific circumstances of the case.If the debtor’s obstacles to performance are beyond the control of the parties,cannot be reasonably foreseen at the time of conclusion of the contract,or cannot be reasonably avoided or overcome;Or if the debtor is unable to perform due to a third party and the third party satisfies the double obstacles,CISG Article 79 may be applied to exempt from the corresponding liability,provided that the notification obligation is performed and the obstacles are removed.The exemption clauses and the performance of the accompanying obligations under the contract will affect the application of CISG Article 79.The force majeure clause is the agreed cause of exemption,and the legal and effective force majeure clause takes precedence over CISG Article 79 to affect the identification of the parties’ exemption from breach of contract.Inspired by disputes over breach of contract due to COVID-19,Chinese enterprises need to actively deal with obstacles arising from PHEIC and take measures in the stages of contract conclusion,contract performance and post-dispute response,in order to control transaction risks and maintain transaction security as much as possible.