TERMINATION OF THE CONTRACT OR CHANGE OF ITS TERMS DUE TO FORCE MAJEURE DURING MARTIAL LAW

Abstract

The military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine has affected almost all spheres of human life in Ukraine, including the possibility of fulfilling civil obligations. It is assumed that for these reasons, a large number of civil law agreements concluded in Ukraine will not be properly implemented, the conditions will be changed, and in other cases, in general, the termination of the agreement. In this regard, there is a need to investigate the consequences of noncompliance with civil law obligations due to martial law in Ukraine. If the parties have not agreed to bring the agreement in line with the current circumstances of martial law, which have changed significantly, the agreement may be terminated on the grounds established by the Central Committee of Ukraine, amended by a court decision at the request of the interested party. the moment of concluding the contract the parties assumed that such a change of circumstances will not occur; the change of circumstances is due to reasons that the interested party could not eliminate after their occurrence with all the care and diligence required of it. Legal regulation of the legal consequences of significant changes in the circumstances that exist when concluding a contract is usually based on one of two key principles of contract law: the principle according to which contracts must be performed (pactasuntservanda), or clause (clausularebussicstantibus). The legislation of foreign countries contains norms according to which «a change of circumstances may justify a change in the contract, when the preservation of the contract in its original form leads to extraordinary results, incompatible with justice.» The main consequences of a significant change in the circumstances that guided the parties in concluding the contract are: – actually change the contract, ie change the terms of the contract (and as a consequence – the obligations between the parties) while maintaining the contract in force; – and termination of the contract by agreement of the parties.