Force Majeure
Performance of the obligation becoming impossible or delayed due to events developing outside the parties' will, unforeseeable and impossible to avoid. Natural disaster, general strike and decisions of official authorities are typical examples; in such a case the seller has an obligation to inform the buyer.
The concept has three elements: the event being outside the party's control, being unforeseeable and being unavoidable with reasonable measures. Unless these elements occur together, merely being busy or a supplier being late is not counted as force majeure.
- Force majeure does not remove performance by itself; most of the time it suspends the period.
- The seller is obliged to notify the buyer of the situation and its effect.
- If performance becomes entirely impossible, refund of the price collected comes into play.
In distance sales there is also a limit to remember: the goods not being in stock is not counted as impossibility in terms of legislation, so it cannot be based on the ground of force majeure. Force majeure clauses in contracts govern the notification procedure rather than widening the scope. When assessing your rights in a specific delay, first look at the status of your order and the notification made by the seller; for the application, the terms in your sales contract apply.
The context in which this term is used: contact page