International Construction Law Review

Chantal-Aimée Doerries KC; Professor Douglas Jones AO

Document

INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION DISPUTES IN DENMARK

SYLVIE CAVALERI1

In Denmark, like in other European countries, the construction industry is becoming increasingly international, as contractors from multiple nationalities take part in consortia in charge of building large infrastructure projects such as the Copenhagen subway, bridges and tunnels connecting Denmark with its neighbouring countries or offshore windmill parks along the Danish coasts. The article discusses whether the very peculiar Danish dispute resolution system applying to construction matters, which is a hybrid between civil proceedings and arbitration, is adequate for disputes involving non-Danish parties, and suggests amendments to this system in order to support the increasing internationalisation of the industry.

I. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION

Whereas construction law was for a very long time understood as a rather national discipline, the evolution in Denmark shows that the construction environment in this country is, like many others, undergoing an ever increasing internationalisation. There are in fact numerous large projects which have been carried out or are being carried out in Denmark and which involve non-Danish parties either on the employer or on the contractor side, and sometimes both at the same time.

To mention only a few examples, one can cite the Øresund bridge and tunnel uniting Denmark and Sweden, large bridges linking the different islands composing Denmark such as the Great Belt and Little Belt bridges, and the planned Fehmarn link between Denmark and Germany. Large infrastructure projects on Danish soil, such as the different phases of construction of the Copenhagen subway, have been or are being carried out by consortia composed of a majority of non-Danish contractors. Finally, offshore wind farms built along the Danish coasts (Anholt, one of the largest in Europe with 111 turbines, as well as the two Horns Rev parks, which are both on the list of the top three parks in Europe in terms of actual energy production), involve Danish and foreign utilities in employer consortia, and contractors from a wide range of nationalities on the execution side.

Like in other Scandinavian countries, such as Norway and as opposed to England, for instance, there is only one set of national standard construction

1 PhD, Assistant Professor at Copenhagen University, Faculty of Law, Centre for Enterprise Liability. This article constitutes the first part of the author’s postdoctoral project, entitled “The interpretation and application of international standard contracts under different legal systems” and funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research.

The rest of this document is only available to i-law.com online subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, click Log In button.