Unilateral termination of agreements with commercial entities within international technical assistance projects

This article identifies the legal grounds and specific features of the legal mechanism for the unilateral termination of contracts in international technical assistance projects, namely grant agreements and supply contracts with business entities in Ukraine, which occurs at the requirement of the donor country’s legislation (USA). The article explores the specifics of contractual relations at two levels of international technical assistance project implementation, which constitute the full cycle of their execution. At the first level: between international technical assistance project implementers, who actually implement international technical assistance projects, and development partners, who initiate and finance such projects. At the second level: between international technical assistance project implementers and recipients, who receive grants through the conclusion of grant agreements, or suppliers of goods, works, and services. It is determined that at the first level of contractual relations, the international technical assistance project implementer undertakes obligations not only to comply with the norms of national law (e.g., US law) but also to ensure the extension of the applicable legal norms to derivative legal relations with their grantees (recipients) and suppliers. Within the second level, the international technical assistance project implementer ensures compliance with the imperative norms of US law either by directly incorporating them into the text of grant agreements and supply contracts, including by reference, or by choosing US law as governing the contractual relations. This is possible in cases where the implementer is a non-resident legal entity acting through its representative office in Ukraine (without establishing a legal entity). In this case, legal relations with a foreign element arise between the parties to the contract, extending the application of the Law of Ukraine «On Private International Law» to them. In particular, this applies to the aforementioned choice of law governing the relations, which corresponds to the principle of party autonomy enshrined in the law. Also, in the absence of a choice-of-law clause in the contract, the Law of Ukraine «On Private International Law» contains conflict-of-laws rules that are subject to application. The article summarizes the legal mechanism for the implementation of US legal norms in contractual relations in Ukraine within the framework of international technical assistance projects with a non-resident implementer, exemplified by the necessity of unilateral termination of grant agreements and supply contracts at the requirement of relevant acts of US law.