In a key development in the global construction contracts arena, FIDIC has published a reprint of its Emerald Book form of contract for underground works and launched a new guide to its use.

With the full backing of the FIDIC contracts committee and the FIDIC board, the Emerald Book 2023 reprint and new guide have been published to take on board a number of comments and queries raised by users, which have given rise to further amendments to improve the use of the contract in practice so helping to keep the contract relevant and easy to use in a changing industry landscape.

The new guide offers a comprehensive and practical overview of the FIDIC Emerald Book relevant positions and outlines key differences from the FIDIC Yellow Book, on which it is based. The Emerald Book is a joint initiative with ITA-AITES (the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association.

FIDIC CEO Dr Nelson Ogunshakin said: “The launch of the reprint and the new guide builds on last year’s reprints and guide to the FIDIC Rainbow Suite and is another significant development for FIDIC. We pride ourselves on providing the global engineering and construction sector with the contract documentation it needs to work smarter and more efficiently and this newly launched reprint and guide has been updated and amended to take into account industry feedback.”

The production of the reprint and guide were a significant undertaking for FIDIC and the organisation’s contracts committee and its task group, led by Hannes Ertl, played a key role in leading the initiative. FIDIC contracts committee chair Vincent Leloup said: “This Emerald Book reprint and guide have benefited from the skilled input of members of the FIDIC contracts committee, as well as feedback from other legal and contractual experts and users from across the contracts landscape.

FIDIC is recommending that all users of its Emerald Book contract should take note of the new amendments and improvements contained in the reprint and the guide. Licence organisations and institutions are also advised to reflect on the amendments and take the necessary steps to update their documentation as needed. The reprints and the guide are available from the FIDIC Bookshop on FIDIC’s website at fidic.org.

Users of the FIDIC contracts who have any questions about the new reprints and the contracts guide are encouraged to contact FIDIC at [email protected]