Dispute Adjudication Boards: A New Approach to Dispute Settlement

In international construction contracts, in which huge financial, technical and human resources are needed, it is vital to solve all disputes at the site of project immediately. Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB) of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers or FIDIC which has been in use for a long time, particularly in the US, has remarkable success in avoiding prolonged arbitration or litigation. Board members are nominated by consensus at the time when the parties to the contract are focused on the agreement. They are independent with particular technical expertise appropriate to the contract. DAB is completely different from FIDIC’S old model construction contracts. DAB is close to arbitration and the enforcement of their decisions is almost similar. This is why legal evaluation of DAB’s decisions seems to be very important. There is no international convention for the enforcement of DAB decisions yet. However, finding ways to enforce them can accelerate the development of DAB in international contracts. Here the 1958 New York Convention as the most applicable and famous in the field of recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards can assist us in the procedure of evaluation and enforceability of those decisions. This article aims to study the development of DAB in one introduction, three main parts and a conclusion. Part One will show what a DAB is and discusses different kinds of DAB. Enforcement of DAB decisions will be looked at in Part Two. Finally, Part Three will review the possibility of applying the 1958 New York Convention to DAB decision. The Conclusion will follow with concluding remarks.