So far in this series, we have touched on the nature and scope
of the adjudication process introduced by the Construction
Contracts Act 2013 (the "Act"). In this
article, we take a look at how the Act may impact the terms of your
construction contract or appointment, including the implications on
your contract of the introduction of statutory adjudication in
Ireland.
The Act applies to all "construction contracts"
entered into after 25 July 2016. Under section 6 of the Act, a
party to a construction contract has "the right to refer for
adjudication ... any dispute relating to payment under the
construction contract", referred to in the Act as a
"payment dispute". Whether or not a contract expressly
provides for adjudication, the parties will still have the
entitlement under the Act to refer a "payment dispute" to
adjudication. They don't have to exercise this entitlement but
they cannot exclude application of the Act from their
contract.(1)
