Comparison Of International Model Construction Contracts

The FIDIC, NEC and AIA Contracts published by FIDIC, ICE and AIA respectivelyare widely adopted nowadays across the world for various kinds of constructionworks. These model contracts provide significant guidance for the employers and thecontractors on risk allocations. After China’s entry into the World Trade Organization,the Chinese contractors have gained more and more opportunities to contract overseasconstruction projects and become more and more familiar with these internationalmodel contracts. To better protect their rights and interests, the Chinese contractorshave to attach great importance on the study of these contracts.This paper is to reveal different solutions to potential problems by comparison of theFIDIC, NEC and AIA Contracts, so that the conclusion could be used to provideguidance for the Chinese contractors. And emphasis is placed both on the merits anddemerits of the new management model introduced by the NEC Contracts.Thereby, this paper first gives a brief introduction of the well-known FIDIC, NEC andAIA Contracts, and then makes comparison in terms of legal foundation, riskallocation, claim procedure and dispute solution procedure. By comparison, theadvantages and disadvantages of these model contracts are revealed. At the end of thispaper, a claim case is analyzed by using the FIDIC, NEC and AIA Contractsrespectively.