Termination of Contract Due to Force Majeure Is Reviewed from Presidential Decree Number 12 of 2020 Concerning the Determination of Non-Natural Disasters of the Spread of Corona Disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a National Disaster

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic that began to spread in Indonesia in early 2020 has had a significant impact on various aspects of life, including the economic and business sectors. In response to this situation, the Indonesian government designated the COVID-19 pandemic as a national disaster through Presidential Decree Number 12 of 2020. This determination provides a legal basis for various actions and policies needed to deal with the impact of the pandemic, including in the context of civil law relationships such as contracts. In practice, many contracts cannot be executed as they should due to restrictions imposed by the government, a decline in economic activity, and other factors related to the pandemic. This raises legal questions related to the application of the concept  of force majeure in contractual relationships. Force majeure is a crucial issue because the COVID-19 pandemic situation, which many parties consider to qualify as a force majeure condition, forces the parties to the contract to terminate or suspend their obligations. However, the application of force majeure in the context of Indonesian law is not always simple. Each contract has  a different force majeure clause  , and its application requires careful legal interpretation. Presidential Decree Number 12 of 2020, although it establishes COVID-19 as a national disaster, does not explicitly provide guidelines on how the concept  of force majeure should be applied in contracts affected by the pandemic. Therefore, an in-depth juridical review is needed to understand the legal implications of termination of a contract based on force majeure in this context. This study aims to analyze whether the determination of the COVID-19 pandemic as a national disaster can be used as a basis for force majeure for contract termination, examine how Indonesian civil law regulates the concept  of force majeure in the context of national disasters, Provide recommendations related to legal steps that can be taken by parties whose contracts are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.