My eye was caught today by the decision just a month ago of the Privy Council in NH International (Caribbean) Limited v National Insurance Property Development Company Limited (Trinidad and Tobago)[1] . The case arose out of Scarborough Hospital in Tobago.

The first part of the Appeal was about the provision at clause 2.4 of the Red Book whereby Employers can be required to provide reasonable evidence of financial arrangements having been made and maintained which will enable it to pay the contract price. In this case, the finding was that the Employer had not done that. And so the Contractor was entitled to determine. The case is of course important to FIDIC projects; probably, FIDIC contractors do not make as much use of this clause as they could do if they wanted to.

Rather, my attention was attracted by the second part of the Appeal, which was to do with the notice provision at clause 2.5 of the Red Book, dealing with claims brought by the Employer against the Contractor. The clause required the Employer to give notice and particulars to the Contractor as soon as practicable, specifying Continue reading →