Delay Damages: The Application of Qatari National to Article 8(8) of the 2017 Red Book

Abstract

This article addresses a common conundrum when a government is a party to a Red Book contract, that is governed by Qatari national law: the inter-relationship between national law and the voluntarily agreed-upon contractual terms. This article sets forth a proposal that is to amend two Qatari laws as applicable to delay damages under contracts based upon the FIDIC Red Book where a governmental entity is a party to that contract and the parties have elected Qatar law as governing the contract. The two laws are the Qatari Civil Code (QCC 2004) and the Tendering and Procurement Law (T&P 2015). QCC 2004 applies when the Employer and Contractor are private law persons. T&P 2015 applies when the Employer is the government. Each law contains provisions that conflict with and supersede the delay damages provisions of the Red Book, in each case depriving the contractual parties of their intended result.