[English Abstracts of Articles]

13 [Journal of Sharia &Law ] [Issue No 52 October 2012]

The Modern Legal rules
in the FIDIC contracts

Dr. Sameer Hamed Al Jamal
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law
University of Sharjah

Abstract:
The FIDIC contracts, adopted by the International Federation of Consulting
Engineers, are relatively modern contracts. In fact, FIDIC contracts are the
most common contracts in the organization of construction building in all
countries of the world. This is because these contracts, in advance, put a
contractual framework to overcome the problems of international construction
and local communities and also to achieve the principle of self-sufficiency for
the construction contracts and construction itself.
The FIDIC contracts organize rights and obligations of the parties and also
an equitable distribution of risk. The FIDIC contracts also organize orders
changing construction work since the building and construction projects need a
long period of time to be implemented. In this period, the circumstances
surrounding the contract may be changed and become different from the
circumstances which arose during its implementation. This requires the
issuance of change orders based on the initiative of the engineer or the
employer's request or suggestion of a contractor. The purpose of these orders is
the compatibility with the development of circumstances and developments,
particularly since the construction projects are very unstable and subject to
many risks, such as force majeure and unforeseen financial difficulties. The
construction work may not be completed correctly and satisfactorily except by
resorting to such orders which can avoid design errors, lack of experience of
the employer, change in the financial requirements or objective of the project,
or sequence of work, including a positive flexibility to implement the project.
[English Abstracts of Articles]


[Journal of Sharia &Law ] [Issue No 52 October 2012]
14





The FIDIC contracts lack a unified legislative organization in the Arab
countries. Furthermore, some general rules of civil law are not compatible with
the compound nature of Contracts for the International Construction and its
recent developments. Besides, the resulting images are different in their logic
and legal system, especially if one of the parties is a foreigner.