EIC Position on FIDIC 2017 Yellow Book published in the ICLR
In December 2017, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) published the Second Editions of their Red, Yellow and Silver FIDIC Conditions of Contracts. In line with previous practice, EIC published in January 2020 an ‘EIC Contractor’s Guide to the FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Plant and Design-Build, (Second Edition 2017)’. The Chairman of EIC’s Working Group Contract Conditions has summarised the most important EIC comments on the FIDIC Yellow Book 2nd Edition 2017” in a contribution to a renowned international law magazine.
This article, which is reproduced with kind permission of the International Construction Law Review (ICLR), summarises EIC’s observations as to what we consider as improvements and what we believe to be retrogressions with respect to the FIDIC 2017 Yellow Book. The most notable difference between the FIDIC 2017 Yellow Book and its predecessor published in 1999 is that it is far more prescriptive. Indeed, the entire 2017 FIDIC suite of contracts has increased significantly in volume necessitating greater diligence by project teams. The success of the FIDIC 1999 edition lay perhaps in its robustness and simplicity. Additional prescription is welcome where the FIDIC 1999 Conditions were lacking clarity. However, the introduction of highly complex contractual processes and procedures and the attempt to anticipate all arguments that may be raised by way of dispute may well prove costly and, initially, more difficult to manage.
As a ‘friendly reviewer’, EIC has been reviewing the new and updated standard forms of contract published by FIDIC for more than fifty years. After preparing its own standard form of turnkey contract form back in 1994, the ‘EIC Turnkey Contract’, EIC drafted altogether five ‘EIC Contractor’s Guides’ on the FIDIC 1999 suite of construction contracts, including on FIDIC’s Design, Build and Operate form and on the so-called MDB Harmonised Construction Contract. These EIC commentaries were considered by the International Construction Law Review as ‘valuable, as they are the product of a responsible and reputable international organisation’.
EIC hereby kindly reproduces the article published in Volume 37, Part 3 July 2020, [2020] ICLR