Exceptional Events Claims

Exceptional Events

• Exceptional Events or Force Majeure deals with circumstances beyond the control of the contracting parties
where they cannot be foreseen or prevented by any of the parties and it becomes impossible for the effected
party to fulfill their contractual obligations. These exceptional events result in contractual procedures that may
lead to termination of the contract.

• Force Majeure arises either from an act of nature, such as earthquakes or floods, or through human interaction,
such as mass violence or a revolution.

• The French term Force Majeure is considered acceptable and used at the international level to express
Exceptional Events and how to deal with it through the terms of the contract.
 Conditions for Considering the Event as a Exceptional Events

• The first condition: that the event is unpredictable on the part of the most alert and insightful person, and
that the unpredictability is absolute, not relative. Unpredictability is related to the exceptionality and rarity
of the occurrence of the accident or its unusual occurrence.

• The second condition (impossibility of prevention or avoidance): that it is impossible to prevent or avoid.

Distinction between Force Majeure and a Exceptional Events:

• Some may differentiate between Force Majeure and a Exceptional Events, and this distinction is based on
the nature of the event. If the event is external, and it could not be foreseen or prevented; It is Force
Majeure, but if it is internal, and it is impossible to avoid, such as the explosion of a machine in a factory; It is
an Exceptional Events.

• The importance of distinguishing between Force Majeure and a Exceptional Event appears in the case of
liability based on damage, in such a case Force Majeure exempts the parties of any liability. But in the case
of an Exceptional Event, it does not necessarily exempt the parties of liability.