Effects of Covid-19 on crossborder contracts related to the organisation od sporting competitions

U okolnostima u kojima se prekogranična mobilnost stvari i osoba uzimala zdravo za gotovo, pandemijski razmjeri epidemije virusa SARS-CoV-2 (kolokvijalno zvan koronavirus, dok je nova bolest dobila naziv COVID-19) rezultirali su dramatičnim i do jučer nezamislivim posljedicama. Naime, u redovnom tijeku stvari uglavnom smo se fokusirali na njezine pozitivne efekte, no aktualna epidemija do kraja je razotkrila i njezino „drugo lice“. COVID-19 pokazao se najboljim „stres testom“ prekogranične mobilnosti osoba i prekograničnih gospodarskih odnosa i ukazao na sve slabosti pretjeranog oslanjanja na globalizaciju per se. Učinak COVID-a 19 na svaki aspekt života i na čovječanstvo u cjelini može se nazvati kolosalnim. Pod naletom epidemije „stradali“ su brojni sektori, uključujući i sportski. Većina je sportskih natjecanja, osobito regionalnih i globalnih, otkazana ili odgođena na (ne)određeno vrijeme. Federacije i organizatori sportskih natjecanja našli su se u velikim problemima uslijed nemogućnosti ispunjenja svojih ugovornih obveza u odnosu na sponzore, medije i druge ugovorne stranke. Namjera je autorice ovog rada pokušati odgovoriti na pitanje koje ovih dana muči mnoge, a to je mogućnost isključenja ili ograničenja ugovorne odgovornosti pozivanjem na višu silu.In circumstances where cross-border mobility of things and people was taken for granted, the pandemic scale of the SARS-CoV-2 virus epidemic (colloquially called COVID-19 or coronavirus) resulted in dramatic and, until yesterday, unimaginable consequences. Namely, in the regular course of things we mainly focused on its positive effects, but the current epidemic has completely exposed its „other face“. COVID-19 proved to be the best „stres test“ for cross-border mobility of persons and cross-border economic relations and pointed out all the weaknesses of excessive reliance on globalization per se. The effects of COVID-19 on every aspect of life and on humaity as a whole can be called colossal. Numerous sectors, including sports, were „killed“ by the epidemic. Most sports competitions, especially regional and global, have been cancelled or postponed (in)defiitelly. Federations and organizers of sports competitions have found themselves in major trouble due to the inability to meet their contractual obligations to sponsors, the media and other contracting parties. The intention of the autor of this paper is to try to answer a question that bothers many these days, and that is the possibility of excluding or limiting contractual liability by invoking force majeure