Conceptualisation of Standard Terms under Qatari Contract Law in Lights of International Trends

Abstract

Standard terms are widely used in making contracts at national and international levels. The Qatari Civil Code (QCC) does not govern such terms directly. Instead, it associates them with adhesion contracts, which also govern model contracts. In contrast, the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (UPICC) and the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) expressly recognise contracting under standard terms. This article first examines the concept of an adhesion contract under QCC in lights of the historical origin of this contract as well as its jurisprudential and judicial interpretation in light of its use in other jurisdictions, including France, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It then analyses the concept and requirements of standard terms under QCC and the aforementioned international instruments. Based on the comparative analysis of the rules of standard terms under all these instruments, this article recommends that the Qatari legislature should discard standard terms from adhesion contracts.