eo é &UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES by Jacobus Rozemond Advocate - Amsterdam a Paper given on 4th March 1986 to the Society of Construction Law on clause 47 of the Dutch Standard Conditions of Contract, U.A.V.Unforeseen Circumstances The Dutch Civil Code does not, at the moment, contain a general rule regarding the influence of unforeseen circumstances on the rights and obligations of the parties to a contract. Dutch Courts - unlike the Courts in other European countries - did not until deep into the twentieth century recognise any right to change the contents of a contract+ A disturbing example is the "mark is mark" case (H.R. 2 January 1931, NJ 1932, 274), Somebody borrowed, in 1908, 125,000 German marks. In 1924 the old Gernan marks were converted into new marks at a rate of 1 billion old marks for one new mark. The lender wanted repayment in Dutch currency at the exchange rate of the new mark, but the Cassation Court refused. The payment had to be calculated on the basis of the exchange rate of the old mark. Change of circumstances was not accepted as a reason for a more equitable solution, Not until long after the Second World War, in 1973, did the Cassation Court recognise that in exceptional cases a situation could exist where reliance upon a contractual clause should be denied as being contrary to the rules of equity, reasonableness or good faith. The new draft Civil Code will contain a rule that in the case of changed circumstances the Court may change or even rescind the contract. Construction contracts The development of the rules regarding construction contracts has been different from the approach of the Courts. As early as 1915, the national cabinet decided to compensate contractors working for the government for two-thirds of the damages suffered as a consequence of rising prices of raw materials. At that time there was no general fluctuations clause in the standard contract conditions. In 1938, new standard conditions for government work contracts were published, containing a few specific rules regarding extraordinary circumstances, but these rules were restricted to such things as damage to the works and the effects of new legislation. A general rule on unforeseen circumstances was still missing. The outbreak of the Second World War and the occupation of the country in 1940 changed all this radically. Two measures were taken by the government. The first was the