Unforeseeable and exceptional situations may arise that prevent the International Organisation from fulfilling certain contractual obligations under a DG ECHO-funded Action. If these (or other) reasons prevent the International Organisation from performing its agreed tasks and duties, it is important to immediately inform (by email) the desk officer at DG ECHO to assess the situation and to agree upon any appropriate procedural follow-up.

For DG ECHO, Force Majeure is any situation or event that:

• prevents the International Organisation from fulfilling its obligations under the Agreement with DG ECHO;
• is unforeseeable and exceptional, beyond the International Organisation’s control,
• is not due to the error or negligence of the International Organisation (including its staff and others it selected to implement the Action e.g., Implementing Partners, service providers, locally engaged staff, contractors etc.), and
• is inevitable, despite the International Organisation exercising all due diligence.

A party prevented by force majeure from fulfilling its obligations under the Agreement cannot be considered in breach of them. The contractual impact of Force majeure is further explained in Article 12 of the General Conditions for Humanitarian Aid Contribution Agreements.

• Situations in which the performance of an obligation has simply become more difficult for reasons different to those mentioned above.
• Situations which occurred due to neglect (e.g. loss of supporting documents due to insufficient archiving practices).
• Default of service, defect in equipment or material, delays in making them available (e.g. delays in custom services, container lost in the harbour).

Cases of possible force majeure must be reported quickly (by email) to the desk officer at DG ECHO, to assess if the force majeure should be invoked, and to agree upon any appropriate procedural follow-up.

Where the International Organisation has been prevented from fulfilling important contractual obligations, the Force Majeure Reporting Form, which covers all the information needed to examine the case, may be used for reporting. The desk officer will review the information provided and may require further information / documentation to assess the situation.

This form may be submitted as a supporting document for the request for the Suspension of activities in the field (Art. 12.5 HACA). DG ECHO’s procedure for assessing requests for Suspension of the Action already includes a dedicated space to provide details on related operational force majeure.

After analysing the situation, DG ECHO will guide the International Organisation on the appropriate follow-up.  

If DG ECHO acknowledges the existence of force majeure, the International Organisation will not be held liable for the identified contractual obligations that it could not fulfil because of that force majeure event. The information shared should be carefully kept in the Action file for the purposes of any possible ex post audit.

For operational situations where force majeure, or other operational obstacles, prevent the continued implementation of activities in the field, the International Organisation can agree with DG ECHO on a suspension,  reduction of the activities in the field or termination when the purpose of the Agreement can no longer be effectively or appropriately performed.