Supervening Events in Indonesian Commercial Contracts and Notes on the UNIDROIT PICC in relation to COVID-19 Health Crisis

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting many aspects of our daily lives, including law and economics. In regard to this, the issue of international commercial contracts is significantly affected as well. It is well-settled that the pandemic could be classified as a supervening event. This could be the basis for a party for not being able to perform a contractual obligation, or to postpone the performance of such contractual obligations. However, different approaches of each national law of a State as well as what has been regulated might lead to multiple interpretations relating to whether COVID-19 should be classified as force majeure or hardship. As a UNIDROIT member state, it is important to examine Indonesia’s perspective towards this issue. Notably, during the recent situation in which an increasing number of international commercial contracts involving Indonesian parties. This article examines supervening events on international commercial contracts, especially from the perspective of Indonesian law.