| "FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Construction",which is formulated by Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs Conseils (FIDIC for short), is considered the Holy Bible of civil engineering. It's the most widely used standardized construction contract in international projects. In the 1999 version of FIDIC contracts, a brand new Alternative Dispute Resolution, known as the Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB for short), was included.Firstly, the author introduced to the reader the general principles of DAB, including its function, value and working procedure and so on. The reader can learn from this part that DAB is a neutral organization entrusted and established jointly by the employer and the contractor. The DAB way of dispute resolution is known for it's ahead of time, made by joint wills, settling the dispute on site with high level of confidentiality and efficiency, with due respect to procedure. Hence, DAB has an edge over traditional engineer deciding way of dispute resolution in that the latter is always challenged for its independence and fairness while the former finds a balance between fairness and efficiency.Secondly, the author elaborated on the legal questions of DAB. Under the system of Contract Theory, the author pointed out that the power of DAB roots in the authorization of both parties, with their autonomy of wills. So the DAB resolution is a non-official way of dispute resolution with high level of contractual nature, positioned between engineer deciding and arbitration or litigation. The scope of jurisdiction of DAB covers all the disputes derived from the construction contract or the construction itself. The decision of DAB has its legal binding force in its deterministic force, conditional contractual force and non-compulsory executive force. DAB is an integral part of our dispute resolution system, along with settlement, mediation, engineer deciding, dispute review board, arbitration and litigation, so to apply DAB one should watch out for the cooperation between different ways of dispute resolution.Last but not least, based on the analysis of the construction dispute resolution system of China, its current situation and problems in particular, the author elaborated on the strengths and shortcomings of inviting DAB into China under the terms of FIDIC. After making a comparison of dispute resolution system between our Standardized Construction Contract and the FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Construction, consulting the DRB resolution in China, the author pointed out that it's feasible to invite the DAB resolution into China. Besides, the author presented some advices on how we may achieve this goal. First, we should add DAB substantial rules and procedural rules to our Standardized Construction Contract, like DAB terms, DAB contract and DAB procedural rules. Second, we should establish the ancillary facilities, transferring the ideology of supervising engineer and establishing our DAB expert bank would be our first priority. Third, we should make some modifications to DAB, like adding temporary DAB to the system and authorizing the DAB to determine period of time of all sorts. |
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