Overmacht

Force majeure is a legal concept under Dutch law that exempts a party from liability where an event renders performance of a contractual or statutory obligation impossible. Such circumstances must be unforeseeable and unavoidable, for example natural disasters, wars or sudden governmental measures.

Force majeure is regulated in the Dutch Civil Code, inter alia in Article 6:75 BW, which provides that the debtor is not liable for a breach if it cannot be attributed to him. Parties frequently set out the applicable conditions in contractual force majeure clauses in order to define their scope.

In practice, force majeure is commonly invoked in cases of disruption such as pandemics or extreme weather events, after which the court determines whether the statutory and contractual requirements have been met.