IBC泰國法律金融會計事務所International Business Consultancy

Can COVID-19 be Taken as Force Majeure For Contracts Performance?

COVID-19是否可成為履行合約中不可抗力因素

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019, many companies have been facing crisis of

breach of contracts due to negative economic impact. Some people may wonder whether COVID-19 can be considered as force majeure in contract?

自COVID-19在2019年爆發以來，許多公司因經濟影響面臨無法履約的危機。有些人可能會思考一個問題，COVID-19是否可以成為履約時的不可抗力因素？

In accordance to Section 8 of Thai Civil and Commercial Code, force majeure means “event that could not have been reasonably anticipated and is otherwise beyond a party’s control.” In addition, it also indicates that the debtor is not in default so long as the performance is not affected in consequence of a circumstance for which he/she is not responsible.[1] The debtor is therefore relieved from his/her obligation to perform if the performance becomes impossible in consequence of a circumstance, for which he/she is not responsible, occurring after the creation of the obligation.[2]

《泰國民商法》第8條規定，不可抗力指 “無法理性期待的事件且不受控制。”此外，《泰國民商法》也指出只要發生非債務人負責的狀況，債務人就算沒有違約。另外，該法也說明在債務人的義務建立後，如果發生非債務人負責的事件導致無法履約，債務人的履行義務會被解除。

However, Civil and Commercial Code does not have precedent cases of force majeure. Currently only Ministry of Labour announces that COVID-19 is considered as force majeure under Social Security Act. Therefore, other cases should be interpreted case by case.

但是《泰國民商法》並未舉出不可抗力的例子。目前只有泰國勞工部宣布《泰國社會保險法》將COVID-19視為不可抗力。因此，對於其他情況應逐案進行研究。

Normally when a party applies force majeure, it should include following factors:

通常一方如要適用不可抗力須包含以下因素：

• The incident stops the party from performing the contract due to force majeure;

              不可抗力導致一方無法履約;

• It’s not possible to perform the contracts during force majeure; 

      在不可抗力發生時間 無法履約;

• It’s not possible to perform the contracts after the force majeure.

                 在不可抗力發生後 無法履約。

In summary, it is important to always include the force majeure clauses in contracts in case of facing unforeseeable emergencies when performing contracts.

總之，在合約中增加不可抗力條款是件非常重要的事情，避免在履約時發生不可避免的緊急狀況。

IBC Firm is formed by highly talented and progressive lawyers, financial advisors and accountants. Our partners were all graduated from well-known universities in Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Japan. Our alliance firms include firms in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, America, Australia, France and South Africa, majoring in law, finance, investment, taxation and accounting, fluent in Chinese, Thai, English and Japanese. Our lawyer is also the legal advisor from Taipei Economic and Culture Office in Thailand (“TECO”).

IBC 泰國法律金融會計事務所是由具才華且傑出的律師、財務顧問和會計師組成，本所合夥人畢業於泰國、英國、美國、澳洲、日本知名大學，結盟的事務所遍及台灣、日本、新加坡、美國、澳洲、法國、南非等。所學專業為法律、金融、投資、稅務及會計，精通中文、泰文、英文及日文。本所律師也是駐泰代表處義務諮詢律師。