Public-Private Partnership("PPP")Contract Dispute Resolution

In recent years,Public-Private Partnership(PPP)model is rapidly developed and widely applied in the field of infrastructure construction in China.Due to the complexity and particularity of PPP model,there have been a variety of problems in PPP project implementation,leading to disputes between project participants.The absence of a specific law for PPP also leads to ambiguities and contradictions between existing PPP criteria.The juristic nature of PPP project contracts has not been clarified yet,leading to problems in law application of these contracts.The fundamental solution ensuring the orderly development of PPP model is to build a good mechanism,with which people can resolve PPP contract disputes effectively.This thesis focuses on such mechanism,and is divided into four parts.The first part summarizes the basic concept of PPP by comparing different definitions of PPP.The author divides the development of PPP model into three stages,introduces the expansion process of PPP in China,and completes the basic introduction of PPP model.A comprehensive analysis of PPP project contract system points out the importance of PPP project contract.The second part,by analyzing three typical cases,shows that the PPP disputes are usually resolved by civil or administrative litigation in judicial practices.Analysis of judicial practices also indicates some problems.For example,decisions given by courts at different level are inconsistent,and usually the dispute is resolved by a high level court.By listing current criteria set by six ministries including the Ministry of Finance,the Development and Reform Commission,the author analyses the current legislative situation for PPP projects in China,and reveals that the level of existing dispute resolution criteria is too low,and there are also many contradictions between these criteria.The third part clarifies that the juristic nature of PPP project contract is the key to resolve disputes.The author summarizes four theories about the nature of PPP project contract,including administrative contract theory,civil contract theory,economic contract theory and mixed nature theory,introduces the representative figures of these for theories,and discusses their opinions and justifications.Then,considering three aspects of subject,object and content,it is concluded that the PPP project contract has mixed nature with both civil and administrative attributes.The author analyses the advantages of the mixed nature theory,demonstrates that various methods are suitable for solving PPP disputes in China due to the mixed nature of PPP project contracts.The fourth part points out that the existing dispute resolution methods include negotiation,arbitration and litigation.By analyzing the characteristics of various resolution methods and citing relevant judicial and legislative provisions of other countries,the author makes a detailed elaboration of existing dispute resolution methods.Due to the current situation of PPP model in China,the existing dispute resolution mechanism is full of obstacles,and incapable to meet the needs of the participants.The possibility of establishing a third-party mediation agency is discussed through drawing on foreign experience of alternative dispute resolution mechanism,combined with existing PPP criteria in China.Given the particularity and professionalism of the PPP model,the concept of expert committee is proposed,and the membership,election and execution procedures of such a committee are also explained.Finally,suggestions are made for improving the PPP dispute resolution mechanism,such as formulating PPP laws at state level and establishing special courts for PPP disputes.