新冠疫情下不可抗力与情势变更的适用选择

The Applicable Options of Force Majeure and Change of Circumstances under the COVID-19 Pandemic

新冠疫情爆发致使合同履行产生障碍,导致大量合同纠纷的产生。2003年非典疫情在司法层面积累的纠纷解决经验一定程度上能对此次新冠疫情后合同纠纷的解决提供参考。但疫情造成合同履行障碍的性质是属于不可抗力还是情势变更,长久以来是司法实践中的难点,可以预见在因新冠疫情引起的合同纠纷诉讼高潮中,司法机关对疫情的定性仍是处理该类案件争议的关键。因此,在《民法典》第533条不可抗力/情势变更可选择适用的立法背景下,个案实践中对疫情的定性,应采用动态视角审视疫情所致合同履行障碍,从合同类型的差异、当事人诉讼理由选择、法院裁判路径选择、多元化纠纷解决方式等方面综合构建不可抗力/情势变更认定模式,并依此模式对疫情影响进行定性。

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to perform the contract,which has led to large numbers of contract disputes.The experience in dispute resolution accumulated at the judicial level during the 2003 SARS pandemic can provide a reference for the settlement of contract disputes after the COVID-19 pandemic to a certain extent.However,whether the nature of the obstacle to contract performance caused by the epidemic is force majeure or change of circumstances has long been a difficult point in judicial practice.It can be foreseen that in the next climax of contract disputes and litigation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,the key to handling such cases is how does the judicial authority characterize the pandemic.Under the legislative background of Article 533 of the Civil Code that force majeure/change of circumstances can be applied selectively,in case practice,we should use a dynamic perspective to examine the obstacles of contract performance caused by the pandemic,and also apply to the identification mode of force majeure/change of circumstances,which is jointly constructed from the differences of contract types,the choice of litigant reasons,the thinking of court judgment,and diversified dispute resolution methods.