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Original Articles

Enforceability of Take-or-Pay Provisions in English Law Contracts – Revisited

Pages 205-218 | Published online: 03 Jun 2015
 

Abstract

Take-or-pay clauses are commonly found in international energy industry contracts, which are often governed by English law. For the second time in the last five years, the English High Court has raised the concern that a take-or-pay clause may – in principle – be an unenforceable penalty. It is disappointing that a view of such potential significance to the global energy industry has once again been delivered in a very short passage contained in a judgment that does not address the industry’s commercial concerns. If take-or-pay clauses may in principle be void as a penalty under English law, this uncertainty is likely to result in unnecessary disputes concerning the enforceability of many such clauses in contracts around the world.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ben Holland

*

Ben Holland is a partner and Phillip Ashley a senior associate in the London office of CMS Cameron McKenna specialising in energy disputes. The authors can be reached at, respectively, [email protected] and [email protected].

Phillip Spencer Ashley

*

Ben Holland is a partner and Phillip Ashley a senior associate in the London office of CMS Cameron McKenna specialising in energy disputes. The authors can be reached at, respectively, [email protected] and [email protected].

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