As Covid-19 expands and Governments take increasingly
restrictive measures, particularly with regard to borders, there
are questions about the foreseeable consequences for supply and
delivery contracts.
Indeed, the Covid-19 pandemic, by its suddenness and virulence,
could in certain cases meet the three criteria of an event of force
majeure defined in Article 1218 of the Civil Code: exteriority,
unpredictability and irresistibility. If the analysis of previous
decisions rendered in the context of other epidemic episodes
(dengue fever, chikungunya, SARS) could lead one to believe that
this qualification could be rejected, its recognition by judges
could on the contrary be facilitated by the novelty and scale of
the crisis, as well as exceptional restrictive measures been taken
(see our article on this subject).
