Zhong Lun Hosts Seminar to Solicit Comments on Exposure Draft of Construction Contract by MOHURD
Zhong Lun Hosts Seminar to Solicit Comments on Exposure Draft of Construction Contract by MOHURD
On April 8, 2011, Zhong Lun Law Firm successfully hosted a seminar to solicit comments from owners of construction projects on the Exposure Draft of Construction Contract issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (“MOHURD"). After the seminar, Zhong Lun worked out a report on how to modify the exposure draft from the perspective of owners of construction projects on the basis of the discussions at the seminar and submitted, on behalf of China Real Estate Association and Beijing Lawyers Association, the report to MOHURD for reference in its revision of the Construction Contract
On March 9, 2011, MOHURD issued the exposure draft for purposes of soliciting comments from the public. This was another important milestone for the revision of construction contract templates, after the Ministry of Construction Contract Template was promulgated in 1999 (“99 Contract Template") and the Standard Construction Bidding Documents of the People’s Republic of China were jointly issued by nine ministries and commissions in 2007 (“07 Bidding Documents"). Moreover, this was the first time for MOHURD to independently make a comprehensive update on the construction contract template after the promulgation of the 99 Contract Template in 1999 and it immediately attracted great attention from numerous owners of construction projects.
For more than one decade, Zhong Lun has accumulated rich legal service experiences in all phases of construction projects such as the bidding process, contract execution, construction management, inspection, delivery and settlement phases. To solicit comments on the exposure draft, Mr. Zhu Maoyuan, a senior partner of Zhong Lun and director of Real Estate Law Committee of Beijing Lawyers Association, together with Mr. Zhu Shuying of Shanghai City Development Law Firm, invited the People’s Bank of China as the representative for state ministries and commissions and leading real estate enterprises (including COFCO Property (Group) Co., Ltd., CITIC Real Estate Co., Ltd., China Vanke Co., Ltd., Greentown China Group Co., Ltd., Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. and Beijing Guohua Properties Co., Ltd.) to participate in the discussions about the exposure draft.
Meanwhile, under the guidance of Mr. Zhu Maoyuan, a construction contract research group, led by Mr. Zhang Jiong of Zhong Lun, presented nearly 100 specific suggestions for modifying the exposure draft which covered the major issues in 11 aspects, after doing in-depth researches with references to such domestic and international contract templates as the 99 Contract Template, 07 Bidding Documents, Beijing 2008 Version of Construction Contract and FIDIC Redbook, domestic and international research results and relevant national laws and regulations.
At the seminar, Zhong Lun suggestions were widely accepted by the seminar participants.
Members of the Zhong Lun Research Group were mainly partners and attorneys from the law firm’s Beijing and Shenzhen offices, including Zhu Maoyuan, Deng Furong, Zhang Jiong, Zeng Sheng, Zhao Xin, Zheng Zhiping, Zhong Qunxin and Deng Chaochao. Many lawyers from the Real Estate Law Committee of Beijing Lawyers Association also put forward a great number of valuable suggestions.