Force Majeure Clause and its applicability in the Current COVID-2019 Pandemic in the Perspective of Bangladesh

Mohammed Salah Uddin

Abstract

OECD recently said that COVID-2019 would compel to revisit the concept of supply chain and estimated that the lockdown/shutdown/restrictions will directly affect sectors amounting to up to one third of GDP in the major economies. For each month of containment, there will be a loss of 2 percentage points in annual GDP growth. COVID-2019 pandemic has been changing the spectrum and applicability of the Force Majeure (FM) clause in the area of global supply chain horizon. The companies are struggling to meet obligations under contract. There may be some lawsuits for recognizing the economic crisis as the force majeure event. The basics of global supply chain has been changing with the outbreak of COVID-2019. It has disrupted the flow of supply chain in both upstream and downstream. Some of the organizations, for example, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, have taken initiatives to update the model form of contracts incorporating the pandemic like COVID-2019.

Keywords:  Force Majeure Clause, COVID-2019 Pandemic,  Perspective of Bangladesh

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