Institute of Fundamental Breach of Contract under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of April 11, 1980

D.A. Usik
2019 Zenodo  
The article focuses on the analysis of the institute of fundamental breach of contract under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of April 11, 1980. The article includes analysis of the case law on application of the category "fundamental breach" and concepts related thereto along with examination of the views of foreign scholars on possible ways of overcoming gaps and unifying interpretation of ambiguous concepts of the aforementioned institute. It was
more » ... found that the category of fundamental breach of contract consists of two main components – detriment and foreseeability. The former grants injured party with the right to avid contract without applying other remedies. To the contrary, the latter protects a party in breach from malevolent behavior of the injured party as well as prevents parties from termination of their contractual relations. In principle, the category of fundamental breach vaguely defined by the Convention. There are neither explicit definitions nor clears criteria given by the Convention for applying fundamental breach and consequences thereof. Academic community mainly criticizes such an approach, however, particular scholars mention the complexity of international commercial relations which justifies the absence of clear rules. At the same time there is no unity among scholars and practitioners in terms of overcoming particular gaps (e.g. the moment when foreseeability component should be applied) or defining concrete definitions (e.g. the detriment itself). The article also provides possible criteria for determining whether a breach of a contract should be deemed as fundamental or not.
doi:10.5281/zenodo.3376840 fatcat:u62aq5pfs5b6dc7acmytstldca