Contracts Laws and Practices in Qatar

Working in construction and consultancy environment in Qatar has been a challenging part of my career. Contracting practices here are somewhat uniform in documentation and issues resolution. But the effects of Law No. 22 of 2004 has yet to be felt by the construction industry especially since this law, the Civil Code of Qatar, contains special Articles that deals primarily on Contracting and the relationship between employer, contractor and engineer.

PWA's standard contract document has gone minor changes since its adoption of the 1987 Red Book of FIDIC. These minor insignificant changes took effect in May 2007.

While FIDIC in 1999 issued a variant of 1987 Red Book by changing significantly the role of the Engineer and removing the Engineer's Representative, PWA's General Conditions of Contract constains the same old provisions that are now inconsistent with new Civil Code.

Private project owners, for reasons of compatibility, adopts the PWA's General Conditions of Contract without fully understanding the legal effects of the documents vis-a-vis the new Civil Code.

I have painstakingly examined the new Code, which is a variant of the Egyptian Civil code, with the addition of new Articles dealing primarily in contracting. These new articles are nowhere to be found in the Eyptian code and is, therefore, piculiar only under the Qatar Civil Code.

There are about 32 Articles in the New Civil Code that will reshape the provisions of the General Conditions of Contract. PWA and the private project owners, the Contract Managers, and Construction Lawyers need to reexamine the General Conditions of Contract in light of the new provisions under Law No. 22 of 2004.