简析新冠疫情对国际货物买卖合同的影响及建议

新冠疫情爆发以来，对国际货物买卖合同的履行产生了严重的影响，主要影响有：供货不足；出口订单取消，进口货物延迟；贸易贷款停止发放，银行贷款压力增大。因新冠疫情等因素导致不能向对方继续履行合同的情形出现时，我们可以从以下角度考虑如何解决。
1.CISG的适用
Article 79
(1) A party is not liable for a failure to perform any of his obligations if he proves that the failure was due to an impediment beyond his control and that he could not reasonably be expected to have taken the impediment into account at the time of the conclusion of the contract or to have avoided or overcome it or its consequences.
国际货物买卖合同大部分受普通法系管辖，我国是CISG的缔约国且只同意《公约》适用于缔约国的当事人之间签的合同，如合同相对方亦为缔约国且双方签订的合同中未约定排除适用国际公约，国内的供货方可援引CISG第79条，减轻合同中己方应当承担的违约责任。
2.不可抗力条款
与中国将不可抗力条款纳入法律体系不同，普通法系系统中，不可抗力是一种合同机制。因合同一方不可控因素致其无法实际履行合同义务，可主张不可抗力。虽然中国国际贸易促进委员会可以向满足要求的中国企业提供“不可抗力证明”，但根据Hoecheong Products Co. Ltd V Cargill H.K. Ltd案例可知，该不可抗力证明说明不可抗力事件发生，合同方仍需证明该事件导致其无法履行合同义务。
因此，我们建议针对国际货物买卖合同，企业可以事前做好合同争议条款的选择，注意保留争议解决中需要用到的关键资料。
案例简介：
关于前述案例Hoecheong Products Co Ltd v Cargill Hong Kong Ltd ，合同中的不可抗力条款约定：卖方应出示中国国际贸易促进委员会或者其它有资质的机关出具的关于不可抗力的证明文件。该案件最终上诉到伦敦枢密院司法委员会，法官认为争议焦点是该类文件是否应就卖方无法克服不可抗力所带来的影响这一情况作出具体证明，该类文件只是一个额外的举证文件，因此该文件只需要说明不可抗力事件的存在即可。除非合同条款中有明确说明，该类证明文件仅作为证明不可抗力事件存在的证据的一部分，主张方还需证明其他必要条件的存在，比如因果关系，即造成了何种不利影响，及没有可能替代履行的途径。
With regard to the above case hoecheong Products Co Ltd V Cargill Hong Kong Ltd, the force majeure clause in the contract stipulates that the Seller shall provide the certificate of force majeure issued by China Council for the promotion of international trade or other competent authorities. The case was finally appealed to the judicial committee of the Privy Council in London. The judge held that the focus of the dispute was whether such documents should specifically prove that the seller was unable to overcome the impact of force majeure. Such documents were only an additional proof, so the document only needed to explain the existence of force majeure. Unless otherwise specified in the contract terms, such supporting documents are only used as part of the evidence to prove the existence of force majeure. The claiming party also needs to prove the existence of other necessary conditions, such as causality, that is, what kind of adverse effects it has caused, and there is no possible alternative way to perform.