Force Majeure and State Action: Lessons from the Rolimpex Case and Beyond

We will address the question of whether or not and when state-owned enterprises can rely on state action to invoke force majeure clauses in their contracts. Force majeure clauses are used to spread the risk of unforeseen or uncontrollable events and potentially excuse the performance of one or both parties. However, the application of these clauses can be complicated when one of the parties is a government entity or is affected by government action.

Together with our international speakers Prof Christian Tietje (University of Halle-Wittenberg), Pontus Ewerlöf (Hannes Snellman) and Ana Stanic (E&A Law) and Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky (Baker Hostetler), we will use the famous Rolimpex case as a basis for discussion. Rolimpex was a Polish company that entered into a contract with an English company for the supply of sugar. However, A Polish embargo on sugar exports prevented Rolimpex from fulfilling its obligations, arguing that this was a force majeure event. We will examine how various courts and arbitral tribunals have dealt with state action and force majeure clauses in similar cases.