EIC Messages at FIDIC 2025 International Contract Users' Conference

EIC experts were invited by FIDIC to participate in several panels of FIDIC’s 2025 International Contract Users’ Conference. Being in London, they used the opportunity to network with present international consulting firms, clients, Multilateral Development Banks and FIDIC lawyers and arbitrators.

Edith Guedella Bustamante and Andrea Costanzi, Members of the EIC Working Group ‘Contract Conditions’, presented the contractor’s perspective during the launch session on FIDIC’s new Carbon Management Guide. This new guidance document not only comprises FIDIC’s six fundamental Carbon Management Principles; it also emphasises the importance of a collaborative approach among all stakeholders when managing GHG emissions and removals. This means that contractors must be supported to innovate and collaborate with designers and researchers.

Analysing the possibilities for FIDIC to embrace and facilitate better collaboration on site, Mathias Fabich, Chair of EIC’s Working Group ‘Contract Conditions’, recalled in the session on FIDIC’s upcoming Collaborative Contract Form the good advice contained in EIC’s 10 ‘Golden Rules’ on Collaborative Delivery Models. Panellists agreed that collaborative approaches are increasingly mainstream and even essential on large and complex projects. The discussion triggered many questions from the floor showing that there is a genuine interest from FIDIC users in a collaborative form.

In other appearances, Philippe Dessoy, EIC Board Member, called in the session on ‘The fundamentals of MDB-funded projects’ on Multilateral Development Banks to enforce the FIDIC ‘Golden Principles’ in the projects that they are financing more rigidly.

Nabeel Khokhar, Member of the Working Group ‘Contract Conditions’ questioned in the session on ‘The role and impact of the Engineer on projects’ whether the authority of making an initial determination should still rest with the engineer given the fact that it is increasingly depending on the employer.

Stefan Ciufu-Hayward, also a Member of the EIC Working Group ‘Contract Conditions’, highlighted in the Pricing and Payments session the need for FIDIC to amend the provisions around the Payment Certificates to prevent Employers from delaying the process arbitrarily.

The FIDIC event perfected the excellent collaboration between FIDIC and EIC in 2025 and indicated the need for future dialogue in the coming year.