The FIDIC conditions of contract have been in widespread use internationally for decades and are the contract of choice for many international process plant and infrastructure projects particularly in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
In December 2017, FIDIC published the second edition of the Red Book (Conditions of Contract for Construction), Yellow Book (Conditions of Construction for Plant and Design Build) and Silver Book (Conditions of Contract for EPC Turnkey Projects) ("2017 FIDIC Suite"). This set of documents is intended to update the previous editions which were published in 1999.
The 2017 FIDIC Suite is stated by FIDIC to continue FIDIC's fundamental principles of balanced risk sharing while seeking to build on the user experience and to modernise the contracts. The amendments are extensive with more detailed contractual provisions, new definitions which are now contained in alphabetical order, and changes in terminology, all of which have led to the contracts becoming considerably longer than the previous versions.
Taylor Wessing has many years of experience in advising on FIDIC contracts on projects in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
This briefing provides commentary on some of the more important changes to the 2017 FIDIC Suite.
Originally published 23 April 2021
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