International Economic Sanctions: Some Thoughts on Their Impact on International Trade Contracts

This article presents some reflections on the impact of international economic sanctions on private transactions. The issues connected to this topic are becoming increasingly difficult due to the growing frequency and complexity of restrictive regimes. From the standpoint of private international law, sanctions represent self-limited rules, the effects of which may depend on the perspective from which they are considered – as part of the law of the forum, as part of the law governing the contract, or as part of the law of a third country – as is generally the case with other rules belonging to the category of overriding mandatory rules. Sanctions present, however, an additional difficulty in that they are in some cases of indefinite duration, which aggravates their disruptive effect on the contractual obligations of private operators. In order to overcome this uncertainty, practice shows that, whenever possible, parties may resort to adapting their contractual agreements to the changing economic, political and legal environment. This adaptation is all the more appropriate since sanctions represent now a structural feature of global economy, and even their withdrawal is unlikely to permit a return to the conditions existing prior to their adoption.