International Construction Law Review
COMPATIBILITY OF FIDIC'S DRAFTING PRINCIPLES WITH CONTRACTING PRACTICES IN THE GULF: A PERFECT MATCH OR A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE?
Michael Grose
Partner, Clyde & Co LLP (Dubai)*
ABSTRACT
This paper considers whether FIDIC’s drafting principles are compatible with contracting practices in the Gulf, how this will be affected if the changes signalled in the Pre-Release second edition of the Yellow Book are adopted throughout the new suite of FIDIC Conditions and whether these changes threaten the popularity of the FIDIC Conditions in the region.
FIDIC CONTRACTS IN THE GULF
The International Federation of Consulting Engineers (“FIDIC”) was formed in 1913 by a small group of consulting engineers from Belgium, France and Switzerland and has since become “the voice of the consulting engineering industry in a globalised world”.1 In the world of international construction contracts, however, FIDIC is best known as a publisher of popular standard forms of contract.
Since the publication of FIDIC’s first standard form in 1957, FIDIC contracts have become a ubiquitous feature of construction projects in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) states.2 The purpose of this paper is to consider the extent to which the FIDIC Conditions3 owe this success to the drafting principles that underpin them. Consideration is given to whether the success of the FIDIC Conditions is attributable to the compatibility of these drafting principles with contracting practices in the GCC or has been achieved despite inconsistencies between them. Further, consideration is given to how the changes signalled in the Pre-Release second edition of the Yellow Book4 will affect this compatibility if, as expected, the proposed
1 http:\\FIDIC.org
2 The GCC states are: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
3 For this paper “FIDIC Conditions” refers to all of the construction contracts published by FIDIC, focussing, however, on the Conditions of Contract for Construction for Building and Engineering Works Designed by the Employer (the Red Book).
4 At the time of writing, new versions of the Red, Yellow and Silver Book, 2nd Editions were undergoing a final review by FIDIC following receipt of feedback on the Pre-Release second edition of the Yellow Book.
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