Change of Circumstances and Force Majeure Clauses in Serbian Legal System and Sources of International Uniform Law

Abstract

Abstract The effects of globalisation are many. One of them is the effect that globalisation has on commercial contracts and contractual relations between contracting parties. Due to a fast pace of economy and the speed and volume of the conclusion of contracts in international trade, participants must rely on stable and reliable legal framework for contractual obligations. In globalised economy, traders from different countries bring with them individual trade practices and norms of national legislation, often diametrically opposed, and sometimes the legal institutes that are regulated in one country don’t even exist in another. This is the case with the institutes of force majeure and a change of circumstances. Due to large differences in the regulation of these two institutes in national legal systems, there have been demonstrated some attempts of standardisation and creation of a unified system of exemption from liability for non-performance, due to force majeure or a change of circumstances. This problem becomes even more evident when dealing with the long term contracts, which are prone to the effects of unforeseen circumstances. This paper aims to explore the nature of the above mentioned legal institutes in some of the most important sources of international commercial law. With a special attention paid to the Serbian regulatory solutions, in order to further understand the similarities and differences between the national legal systems and sources of international law. The first part of the paper deals with applicable legal framework in Republic of Serbia, concerning force majeure and a change of circumstances. The second part of the paper deals with the international sources of commercial law, such as UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of 1980; UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts; Principles of European Contract Law; Draft Common Frame of Reference; and Common European Sales Law.