Contract translations on the increase

More and more FIDIC contracts are being translated into key international languages helping to improve the reach of these important documents across the global construction sector.

As an international organisation with a significant global reach, FIDIC rightly prides itself on ensuring that its marketleading contracts are well understood across as many countries as possible. That means getting its standard construction contracts translated into key international languages to encourage their take up in as many countries as possible.

Speaking at FIDIC’s recent Official Contract Users’ Conference for North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Pablo Laorden, founder and managing partner at the law firm Lámbal Abogado, highlighted the key need for native language translations of contracts as a basic step to avoid misunderstandings and controversies on projects.

“Given that many contract controversies relate to the ‘specific’ meaning of one word or expression, or to the interpretation of a sentence or paragraph or of a local law or permit, why should we be discussing about each stakeholder’s translation or interpretation when we can have the original contract in our own language?” Laorden said.

He made the point that a common language and/or understanding of the contract documents and all communications during the project is key for the success of any project. “The main benefit of using the FIDIC forms in the local language is that it facilitates its understanding by all stakeholders, minimising misunderstandings, claims and disputes, thereby contributing to the success of the project,” said Laorden.

The publication of five key FIDIC contracts in Chinese (see page 1) means that FIDIC has now published its standard contracts in in four - Spanish, Portuguese (to be available in Q3 of 2021), French and Mandarin - of the key five strategic languages demanded by the seven largest multilateral development banks – the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank and the African Development Bank. All of these international funding organisations have recently adopted the FIDIC 2017 contracts for infrastructure projects across their operating countries.

In addition to the above, FIDIC has also published translations of a number of its contracts in several international languages. The Ukrainian FIDIC member association recently completed a translation of FIDIC Green book 1999, FIDIC Red 2017 and FIDIC Red 1999 Subcontract (Ed 2011) whereas FIDIC Yellow 2017 and FIDIC Silver 2017 have also been translated into Serbian.

Elsewhere, Portuguese and Italian translations of the 2016 Dredgers contract have been completed in collaboration with the International Association of Dredging Companies with whom FIDIC has an ongoing collaboration agreement. FIDIC also has a translation and license agreement with its Jordanian member association, the Jordan Architects and Consulting Engineers Council, which should mean that key contracts will be published in Arabic in the not too distant future.

FIDIC’s international client manager Ieva Liaugaude commented: “The busy activity pipeline of FIDIC contracts translation is answering the industry’s demand to ensure global outreach for all FIDIC contract users. Translations are essential to enhance the understanding of FIDIC contracts by all users across the globe with no exceptions. We are certain that these ongoing translation initiatives will serve the industry’s common goal to introduce balanced and clearly structured FIDIC contracts to anyone interested.”