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Author: “Mohammad Mufid” Ratib Qurashi
Introduction:
The author will discuss in this article contracting agreements. Relevant Qatari legislations and Professor Abd el-Razzak el-Sanhuri’s masterpiece “Al-Wasīṭ fī sharḥ al-qānūn al-madanī al-jadīd” will be used for reference and guideline in this article.
What is a contracting agreement?
In simple words, Professor Sanhuri refers to a contracting agreement as being a contract whereby one of the contract’s parties commits to manufacture a product, or to do a certain job in return to a determined wage paid by the other contract’s party. Moreover, Article (681) of the Qatari Civil Law states that a contracting agreement shall be defined as “a contract under which either party undertakes to make a thing or perform any work for the other party in consideration of a wage, without being an agent or representative of such party.” It is worth mentioning that Prof. Sanhuri differentiated between a contracting agreement, employment agreement, agency and representation agreements for several reasons that lead to different implications and consequences.
Contractor’s Obligations:
According to Prof. Sanhuri, the contractor’s main obligations can be introduced as follows:
- The execution of the assigned work.
- Handing over the work after its completion.
- Guarantee of work after completion.
The contractor is obliged to perform the work in accordance with the agreement. However, if it was not regulated in the agreement’s provisions, the contractor shall perform the work in accordance with the applicable practices. Consequently, the contractor shall be deemed liable for the mistakes directly resulting from him or his workers. In addition, if the contracting agreement obliged the contractor to provide work materials, partially or fully, the contractor is liable for any defects in the materials provided by himself. As mentioned earlier, handing over the work after its completion is mandatory. Methods of handing over the works after completion differ according to the nature of the agreement. Finally, after handing over the work, the contractor must guarantee the work. The duration of the guarantee differs from one case to another. However, generally the duration allowed by the legislator for claims related to guarantee is one year. It is also worth noting that in case of construction contracting agreements, the provisions that apply on the contractor or the engineer are different and are stated explicitly and in more detail in the Qatari Civil Law; 10 years guarantee duration.
Conclusion:
This article is intended to illustrate an introduction for a series of articles that will try to focus on each detail in contracting agreements; construction contracting agreements in particular. Until then, our professionals at Alhababi Law Firm are always ready to help and assist!