Arbitral Award - Enforcing A FIDIC Dispute Board’s Decision - Set Aside

The Singapore Court of Appeal recently gave a rare judgment by a court on the dispute resolution provisions found in many FIDIC construction contracts.  It is of wider relevance to contracts with clauses providing for disputes to be escalated through various stages before reaching arbitration.

Background

• The relevant contract was a FIDIC Red Book 1999 under which any dispute must be referred to a Dispute Adjudication Board before it can be referred to arbitration.  This is subject to a DAB being in place.  The contract envisages this happening from the outset.  This does not always happen even though a DAB's familiarity with a project as it progresses is one of its key advantages in helping it decide disputes.