Spotlight on COVID-19: Analysis of the “Impediment” under CISG Article 79 and Suggestions for China

Abstract

Under the influence of global public health events such as COVID-19, the social and economic order has been damaged, and the possibility of the buyer and seller to default on the international contract has increased. Although with the exemption provisions in article 79 in the United Nations convention on international sales contract, the clause is often applicable to the materialization of the war and strike. In the face of economic impediment, there are still a larger dispute, and based on the official ambiguity of impediment in article 79, countries tend to agree to the domestic concepts. In this paper, the impediment has been compared with hardship and Force majeure, and the two laws systems have been conducted to compare whether COVID-19 can be identified as an impediment from the two aspects of exemption time standards and third-party default. This paper also attempts to make suggestions to the courts of China from the application of the law, the review of the intention and statement of the application of article CISG79, and how to identify the breach of contract caused by Covid-19.