FIDIC PDF electronic products

FIDIC offers the original, authentic and regulated (English) versions of its contracts, agreements and documents in the Portable Document Format (PDF). 
 
The FIDIC Bookshop  supplies documents for which it seeks copyright protection and guaranteed authenticity as encrypted whole-document PDF files, where the encryption uses the FileOpen system.

1. Contracts and Agreements
 
FIDIC contracts are structured as follow :

  • Part I : General Conditions that apply to all contracts and must thus be used unchanged.
  • Part II : Particular Conditions for special clauses. 

 
The viewed and printed pages of the PDF versions of contracts contain a seal specifying that the PDF version is a regulated version of the printed document that has been supplied by FIDIC to a specified customer. In the case of "whole-document" PDFs, printing must be within a specified length of time (generally 1 year) for a specified number of pages (generally 10 times the total number of pages in a document), subject to the conditions laid down in a Users Agreement.
 
Meanwhile, those parts of a Conditions of Contract that are designed to be adapted by a customer for a particular project are also supplied in formats from which text can be copied (unencrypted PDF file) or the file itself edited (wordprocessor formats). The "part-document" PDF can be browsed and printed without restriction, and text copied from the file.
 
The word-processible part documents often include the forms and other text that is used to prepare a document.
 
This configuration ensures that:

General Conditions printed by a customer on behalf of a client represent unaltered, authentic, versions of the Conditions;
A customer has the flexibility to adapt or draw up Particular Conditions and similar Parts, and to make use of prepared forms.

 

2. Uses
 
The electronic versions of FIDIC contracts and agreements are invaluable for customers needing:

  • multiple copies of a contract for a single project over a limited period of time;
  • an online version that can be browsed and searched at any time;
  • editable online versions of those parts of Contracts (e.g., Particular Conditions) that are tailored for use on a particular project.

 

3. Products archives and directories
 
Encrypted PDF documents are supplied in a single uncompressed directory or in a compressed archive containing several files. The archives are generally .exe self-extracting archives for Windows, .zip archives for Windows, Mac and Unix (requires an unzipping utililty such as WinZip).
  
Most documents are available online for receipt by download. 
 
Various editions of the Collections are available depending on the access rights. Special Editions have watermarked files and contain  unencrypted PDFs. All others contain FileOpen encrypted PDFs for which the present instructions apply.
 
4. Product types
 
4.1. Electronic products
 
Encrypted whole-document PDF files are supplied in product archives received  on downloading, they can be ordered online at the FIDIC Bookshop on the FIDIC website. 
The purchase of a product archive (delivered by download) is accompanied by the right to install the FileOpen-encrypted whole-document PDF file. 
 

5. Purchasing

5.1. Online

Customers can purchase electronic products online. Payment can be made as follow :

  • by credit card
  • by bank transfer


FIDIC electronic products will be available upon payment reception. 

 
6. Receiving the product
 
 
The electronic product directory containing the whole-document encrypted PDF document  is made available for downloading by the client from the FIDIC  Bookshop.
 
The FIDIC Contracts and Agreements Collection, Quality Management, Environmental Management, and General Collections are supplied as Enterprise Editions.

The Enterprise Edition provides all whole-document PDF files, with full access granted for one year for 1 installation on 1 device. Documents part of the collection can be printed 10 times. For more installation contact FIDIC with your request at [email protected] or through the website contact form.


Once an order has been processed a customer will be sent a message giving an Order Code. Once payment has been cleared, or the FIDIC Bookshop is satisfied that payment will be made promptly on receipt of an invoice, the Bookshop authorises the download, or sends the electronic archive or collection and advises the customer that this is the case. 

7. Contents of archives

7.1 Contracts

The electronic component for a particular Conditions of Contract (e.g., the Construction Contract First Edition for Works of Civil Engineering designed by the Engineer) comprises:

  • General Conditions: Section "a" 
  • Notes for Guidance: Section "b" 
  • Forms: Section "c" 

These contracts are supplied as the following files:
"abc" (i.e., whole document): FileOpen-encrypted PDF file that must be installed by the customer. It is supplied as an. exe file that is installed and during installation the customer obtains an Authorization String from the Bookshop allowing installation to proceed to completion. The installer self-destructs after the installation is complete, and the installed PDF is limited to viewing for 1 year and printing of 10 times the number of pages in the document. Each page contains a FIDIC seal as a watermark.

"bc" part-document PDF file that can be printed and text copied without limit up until the expiry date of the "abc" file.
forms "f" taken from "a", "b" and "c" that are supplied in editable word processor formats that can be edited and printed without restriction up until the expiry date of the "abc" file.

Some documents have four parts, and are labelled "a-d", with "a" for the General Condition, and "bcd" for the remainder.


7.2 Agreements
 
The directory or archive for an agreement generally comprises:
a single, whole document, PDF file which is supplied as a FileOpen-encrypted .exe installable PDF file. As before, this PDF file, once installed can be viewed for 1 year and printed 10 times the number of pages in the document.  
editable parts of the Agreement (e.g., the Agreement, Conditions of Particular Application and Appendices ) as editable word processing files.


7.3 Documents
 
The directory or archive for a document, e.g., a guide to a contract or agreement, generally comprises:
a single, whole document PDF file which is supplied as a FileOpen-encrypted .exe installable whole-document PDF file. As before, this PDF file, once installed can be viewed for 1 year and for printed 10 times the number of pages in the document.  


8. Procedures
 
A user will usually copy to a hard disk  a compressed archive downloaded or received by email from the website.
Generally speaking, it will then be necessary to unpack an archive. For self-extracting archives, one simply opens the archive file. For other types of archives one needs an unpacking program (there are many available, e.g. WinZip for Windows). A password is not required in either case. For directories, the directory needs to be copied to a hard disk.
 
The readme.txt file in the directory explains that Adobe's Acrobat Reader© is required to read and print the whole-document PDF file and any part-document file/s.
 
A customer is requested to read the Users Agreement contained in the file agree.txt. This agreement enters into force when the customer installs the FileOpen-encrypted whole-document PDF file.
 
Next, the customer will generally install the FileOpen-encrypted whole-document PDF file by clicking on the <productname> executable file in the archive. During installation, a window will appear giving the ProductID and Input String. These two quantities are used to calculate the Authorization String that the customer enters in the box provided to complete the installation of the PDF.
 
9. Authorization String
 
The Authorization String can be obtained automatically by clicking on the "Connect Now and Order Online" button in the installer window. This launches a web browser and makes a connection to the FIDIC.org bookshop website. Code runs on the site and returns a webpage giving the Authorization String.
Or manually by entering the Order Code to access the download page, where an input box is provided, or by telephone, faxing or emailing the Bookshop. Customers are only allowed to manually submit  three 9-character Input Strings on the website, so they are asked to ensure that they enter the correct string.


10. Price and Delivery
 
A FIDIC electronic product directory containing the whole-document encrypted PDF and any part-document file/s has the following access rights:

Contracts and agreements:
-whole document access controlled by FileOpen encryption: viewing for 1 year; printing of 10 times the total number of pages in the document; text cannot be copied and pasted.
-part-documents: text can be copied and pasted from part-document PDF files without restriction while the whole-document is licenced for use; part-document files in word-processing formats can be edited.  

Other documents:
- whole document access is controlled by FileOpen encryption: viewing unlimited; printing 10 times the total number of pages in the document; text can be copied and pasted.
- part-documents: text can be copied and pasted from part-document PDF file/s without restriction while the whole-document is licenced for use; part-document file/s in word-processing formats can be edited.  
A FIDIC electronic product directory, generally costs Euro 70 - 250 .


11. Information
 
Please contact the FIDIC Bookshop (tel.: +41 22 568 0505; [email protected]).