A Comparative Study on the Requirement of Severity of Seller’s Actual Breach of Contract for the Buyer’s Right to Withhold Performance under the CISG, the CESL and the PICC

Abstract

The buyer’s right to withhold performance is a important and useful self-help remedy to protect himself from the seller’s actual breach of contract. However, the buyer’s exercise of such a right without qualifying the requirements for suspending of performance often exposes himself to the risk of breaching the contract. On the other hand, If the buyer performs his obligations under the uncertain situation that the seller may not perform his obligations, he may also face the risk of the seller’s non-performance. In addition, if the right to suspend performance is recognized without any requirements, it is a problem that can be abused as a means for the contracting party to avoid its obligations. Therefore, reasonable standards are needed to solve these problems, and this study executes a comparative study on the requirement of Severity of Seller’s Breach of Contract for the exercise of the buyer's right to suspend its performance against the seller's actual breach of contract under the CISG, the CESL and PICC. Furthermore, based on this study, we intend to provide practical and legal considerations and implications.