Dispute Boards in Croatian & Regional Construction Projects

In July 2024, the Croatian Chamber of Economy together with the Association of Consultants in Construction as a licenced member of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia the Regulations on the appointment of dispute resolution adjudicators and the formation of the National List of Dispute Resolution Adjudicators under the FIDIC Conditions of Contract.

The FIDIC forms of construction contracts, especially the 1999 edition of the Red Book and the Yellow Book, have been widely spread in the field of construction in Croatia as well as in the entire region. One of the specialties of the FIDIC form of contracts is certainly the FIDIC multi-tiered dispute resolution clause containing three levels of dispute resolution: the Engineer’s determination, the DAB/DAAB decision and finally – arbitration.

At the beginning of the use of the FIDIC forms of contacts in Croatia, parties considered the DAB/DAAB proceedings only a formality, as a step which had to be complied with but without aiming to effectively resolve a pending dispute. Today, almost every construction contract based on the FIDIC form of contracts, contains the DAB/DAAB as a necessary step in dispute resolution and parties engage with more and more efforts to resolve their dispute before the DAB/DAAB, or at least, to carefully assess their contractual position and prepare for arbitration or court proceedings.

It can be concluded that, after more than a year of application, the Regulation represents a valid legal framework for the procedure of nominating the DAB/DAAB sole member or president of the DAB/DAAB in case parties cannot reach an agreement, established the National List of Dispute Resolution Adjudicators under the FIDIC Conditions of Contract providing parties with a pool of adjudicators for their consideration and nomination and further affirmed the DAB/DAAB as an alternative dispute resolution tool.