This mini-dissertation analyses whether COVID-19 can be regarded as a force majeure event in international sales contracts in Africa. It begins by looking at the history and development of force majeure (or more generally, the doctrine of excuse for non-performance) in both civil and common law legal systems. It then moves on to look at whether in terms of the provisions of the CISG, the COVID-19 pandemic can serve as an excuse for non-performance in international sales contracts governed by the CISG. Next, the domestic law of South Africa is considered, and it is analysed whether the COVID-19 pandemic can be an excuse for non-performance in international sales contracts that is governed by South African law. The mini-dissertation concludes by discussing how force majeure clauses can and should be used in international sales contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (International Trade and Investment Law in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Centre for Human Rights / LLM (International Trade and Investment Law in Africa) / Unrestricted

To regulate and facilitate are the main functions of legal rules. These purposes are achieved by a harmonised legal system by which the law becomes identical in numerous jurisdictions. The process to unify the law of sale internationally started in the 1920s and culminated, in 1988, in the implementation of the CISG. This Convention intends to provide clarity for most international sales transactions by regulating the formation of contracts, and the rights and obligations of the seller and the buyer resulting from the contract. The CISG has these days enjoyed much ratification and influenced a number of legislation reforms worldwide. Despite the role it played during the drafting process of the CISG, the DRC has not yet ratified it. Instead, the country continued to rely, until recently, on colonial legislations which had become out-dated, and inadequate to meet modern international sales contracts requirements. The situation appears to have been improved a year ago as the effect of the adoption of OHADA law whose Commercial Act is largely inspired by the CISG. Because the introduction of OHADA law in the DRC is very recent, this study intends to assess the current state of Congolese sales law by comparing it with the CISG and South African law, which is non-CISG but modernised. The comparative study aims at establishing whether current Congolese law, as amended by OHADA law, is sufficient or has shortcomings; if it has some, it aims to identify those shortcomings, and make suggestions for their improvements. After discussion, it has been discovered that the ratification of OHADA law has significantly improved Congolese domestic sales law. Given that there remain certain unresolved shortcomings in Congolese international sales law, however, the study ends by a proposal for the accession of the DRC to the CISG in order to fill them. / Mercantile Law / LLD

To regulate and facilitate are the main functions of legal rules. These purposes are achieved by a harmonised legal system by which the law becomes identical in numerous jurisdictions. The process to unify the law of sale internationally started in the 1920s and culminated, in 1988, in the implementation of the CISG. This Convention intends to provide clarity for most international sales transactions by regulating the formation of contracts, and the rights and obligations of the seller and the buyer resulting from the contract. The CISG has these days enjoyed much ratification and influenced a number of legislation reforms worldwide. Despite the role it played during the drafting process of the CISG, the DRC has not yet ratified it. Instead, the country continued to rely, until recently, on colonial legislations which had become out-dated, and inadequate to meet modern international sales contracts requirements. The situation appears to have been improved a year ago as the effect of the adoption of OHADA law whose Commercial Act is largely inspired by the CISG. Because the introduction of OHADA law in the DRC is very recent, this study intends to assess the current state of Congolese sales law by comparing it with the CISG and South African law, which is non-CISG but modernised. The comparative study aims at establishing whether current Congolese law, as amended by OHADA law, is sufficient or has shortcomings; if it has some, it aims to identify those shortcomings, and make suggestions for their improvements. After discussion, it has been discovered that the ratification of OHADA law has significantly improved Congolese domestic sales law. Given that there remain certain unresolved shortcomings in Congolese international sales law, however, the study ends by a proposal for the accession of the DRC to the CISG in order to fill them. / Mercantile Law / LL. D.

Dans le domaine du droit de la vente, on peut trouver beaucoup de règles qui sont limitées dans leur champ d’application ratione personae (par exemple aux seuls contrats Business to Consumer, B2C, ou aux contrats B2B). Ces différenciations sont souvent dues à des raisons historiques (par exemple la transposition de directives européennes en matière de droit de la consommation). Cependant, ces différenciations, qui compliquent les dispositions en matière du droit de la vente pour la jurisprudence ainsi que pour les utilisateurs et praticiens du droit, ne sont souvent pas justifiées par des raisons matérielles. La présente étude a l’objectif de trouver une réponse à la question quelles différenciations sont réellement utiles et dans quelles dispositions il est souhaitable de prévoir davantage une règle uniforme pour toutes les hypothèses ratione personae. A cette fin, le travail examine le droit de la vente français et allemand ainsi que des réglementations et principes européennes et internationaux (CVIM, DCEV, Principes UNIDROIT, CCR) et les analyse en se référant, outre que l’argumentation juridique, à la méthode fonctionnelle du droit comparé et à l’analyse économique du droit. / In sales law, there are many provisions that have limited personal scope of application, for instance special rules for so-called B2C (Business-to-Consumer) or B2B (Business-to-Business) contracts. Those personal differentiations, that make the application for judges, contracting parties as well as legal practitioners very complicated, are often due to historical reasons (for example the transposition of European Directives in the field of consumer law), but not justified by substantial arguments like differences between those personal categories.The present comparative study aims at finding out where these differentiations are useful and justified by substantial reasons and at what point it is preferable to provide a uniform rule for all personal configurations. In order to answer this question, this work examines the German and French sales law as well as European and international regulations and principles of soft law (CISG, CESL, UNIDROIT Principles, CFR) and analysis the rules using, apart from legal argumentation, the functional method of comparative law as well as the law and economics approach. / Insbesondere im Kaufrecht findet man immer wieder einzelne Vorschriften, Gesetzesabschnitte oder ganze Gesetzbücher mit eingeschränkten personalen Anwendungsbereichen (z.B. beschränkt auf Business to Consumer Verträge, B2C, oder auch auf B2B-Verträge. Jedoch scheint dieses komplizierte Netz aus personalen Differenzierungen keiner bestimmten Logik zu folgen und basiert häufig auf rein historischen Gründen (z.B. der Umsetzung von europäischen Verbraucherrichtlinien) oder auf beschränkter legislativer Kompetenz.Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht daher, an welcher Stelle derartige personal differenzierende Vorschriften tatsächlich durch materielle Gründe gerechtfertigt sind und wo es besser wäre, die Differenzierung zu beseitigen, um das Kaufrecht zu vereinfachen und für dessen Adressaten und Anwender zugänglicher zu machen. Somit richtet sich die Arbeit nicht nur an die Gesetzgeber, um die existierenden Regelungen zu vereinfachen, sondern auch an die Rechtsprechung und die Praxis. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen untersucht die Arbeit das deutsche und französische Kaufrecht sowie internationale und europäische Regelwerke (CISG, CESL, UNIDROIT-Principles, CFR). Dabei werden außer der juristischen Argumentation die funktionale Methode der Rechtsvergleichung und die Ökonomische Analyse des Rechts verwendet.

It is universally acknowledged that international trade and cooperation have become key drivers of SMEs. Indeed, the success of SMEs in the sales sector depends upon their capacity to conquer the foreign market and compete with larger companies. Many SMEs today, in particular those in Central and West Africa, are very much aware of this reality. However, because of differences between domestic laws and their maladjustment, many African SMEs still struggle to enter the international market and compete with larger companies. It is therefore obvious that any SMEs that want to succeed in international commerce today will be called upon to confront different regulations, whether domestic, regional or international, which are often shaped according to the realities and expectations of a particular environment. The challenge today is to regulate and harmonise these different legal systems, in order to render the law identical in numerous jurisdictions. This process of unifying the law internationally, in particular the law of sale, started in 1920 and culminated in 1988, with the implementation of the CISG. This Convention, which has become the primary law for international sales contracts, endeavours to deal with this problem of differences in law between states on a global scale, by attempting to achieve a synthesis between different legislations, such as civil law, common law, socialist law, and the law regarding industrialised and Third World countries. Even though the CISG appears to be a compromise between different legal systems, the fact remains that it is not yet applicable in many countries, especially those in Central and West Africa, which are mostly still ruled by domestic and regional law, namely the OHADA. The purpose of this study is to attempt to analyse and compare the OHADA’s Uniform Act Relating to Commercial Law to the CISG, in order to identify similarities and differences between the two, and to determine, with regard to the operating mode and structure of SMEs in West and Central Africa, which one of the two legislations is more appropriate. / Private Law / LL. M.