Research On Legal Issues Related To Construction Engineering Quality

The idea of construction engineering quality has been defined since the implementation of Construction Law (Mar. 1, 1998) and Regulations on Construction Engineering Quality (Jan 30, 2000), which stipulates that liability and responsibility of related people of construction engineering concerning quality and management responsibility of quality supervisory departments. Later on, in order to couple with those two regulations, there are two other regulations--- articles related to quality management issued by the construction department and Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Trial of Dispute Cases Involving Construction Project Contracts Interpretation implemented by the Supreme People's Court--- issued by the construction department. Though those regulations have had certain positive impact on solving disputes related to construction engineering quality, there are still some problems in them, for example, current oversimplified regulations on solving quality disputes, different standards for solving quality disputes and controversies over solutions of practical engineering quality disputes. Proceeding from the judiciary practice of disputes over engineering management practice and engineering quality, this thesis makes a discussion on legal issues related to construction engineering quality and a formulation to improve related systems in the end.Main body of this thesis is divided into 4 parts. Part-1 is about related definitions and governmental supervisions concerning construction engineering quality. In this part, firstly, construction engineering quality is defined and its features according to the features of construction engineering and construction production are pointed out. The features of construction engineering quality include hidden nature of the quality, various interrelated elements, great quality fluctuation, limitations on yearly inspection, particularity of evaluation method. Secondly, it makes an introduction of the governmental supervisory situation in construction engineering quality at home and abroad while puts an emphasis on the setting-up, development history and current situation of our country. In recent two years, the devastating losses caused by the earthquakes in Wenchuan, Sichuan province and Yushu, Qinghai province and the collapse of Shanghai's 13-story Lotus Riverside Apartment during construction, reveal construction quality problems left us to deep reflection. Further effective measures should be taken by the government to enhance the quality supervision in construction engineering field. Part-2 is related to types of construction engineering quality responsibilities and the legal remedies taken by the employer to deal with construction engineering quality blemishes. To begin with, each party should discriminate corresponding responsibilities concerning different sorts of construction engineering quality during engineering construction in accordance with the related law, rules, regulatory documents issued by the administrative departments of construction ,contracts and agreements. Secondly, the legal remedies taken by the employer to deal with construction engineering quality blemishes can be divided into: General remedy and special remedy.Part-3 is about the judiciary solutions of related construction engineering quality blemishes, which are explained in five aspects: Unqualified justice cognizance of construction engineering quality, non-conforming justice definition of construction engineering quality, the justice cognizance of the range of construction engineering quality, judiciary solutions of contractor's quality blemishes during construction engineering and judiciary solutions toward situations when the contractor refuses to repair unqualified construction engineering. Unsatisfactory quality refers to the situations when acceptance of individual project after its completion or part/section engineering projects fails to meet applicable national compulsory standards, or any inspection lot fails to meet national compulsory requirements and compulsory standard for Construction Specification; None-conforming situations refer to it that the time and content area do not meet the agreement of both parties; Judiciary interpretations on agreements related to quality do not cover awards including Tianchi Cup, Changbai Mountains Cup, Luban Prize; The employer may bear responsibility if the employer directly assigns specific constructions to subcontractor regardless of design blemishes or construction materials, construction parts and equipments offered by or appointed to purchase by the employer fail to meet the compulsory standards. Employer is entitled to reduce construction payment if the contractor refuses to do repairing work regardless of the explicit or implicit nature of the refusal.Part-4 is about the formulation to improve construction engineering quality system in our country, which is explained in three aspects: rules and regulations on fine housing decoration market, effective quality supervisory mechanism on rural construction, the setting-up of certified engineer system of construction.