What is
a Muqawala Contract?
A muqawala is the UAE Civil Code's contract for works: an agreement under which one party undertakes to make a thing or perform a task for the other in return for consideration. Every construction contract performed in the UAE, including every FIDIC form, is legally a muqawala, and the label matters because it imports a set of Civil Code rules, some of which are mandatory and override whatever the parties signed.
Why the label matters
Parties negotiating a UAE construction contract usually focus on the printed form: FIDIC, a bespoke employer form, or a short works order. The Civil Code does not care. If the agreement is one to execute works for a price, the muqawala provisions apply on top of it, filling gaps where the contract is silent and overriding it where the rule is mandatory. The most consequential import is decennial liability: ten years of joint contractor and supervising engineer liability for collapse and structural-safety defects that cannot be contracted out of.
What the muqawala rules add to your contract
Beyond decennial liability, the muqawala chapter and the Civil Code's general provisions shape price adjustment for quantity changes, the consequences of employer default, termination formalities, and the tribunal's power to adjust agreed compensation to actual loss. Good faith and abuse-of-rights doctrines then sit over the whole contract. Our guide to FIDIC contracts under UAE law maps each of these against the standard forms clause by clause.
Is a FIDIC contract a muqawala?
Yes. FIDIC is a contract form, not a legal category. Any contract to execute construction works in the UAE is a muqawala under the Civil Code, so the mandatory muqawala rules, decennial liability above all, apply regardless of which FIDIC book the parties signed or how heavily they amended it.
Can you contract out of the muqawala rules?
Partly. Many muqawala provisions are default rules the parties can displace with clear drafting, which is exactly what FIDIC particular conditions do. A core of mandatory rules cannot be excluded: decennial liability is the leading example, and any clause purporting to exclude or limit it is void.
Does muqawala apply to subcontracts?
Yes. A subcontract to perform works is itself a muqawala between contractor and subcontractor, with the same gap-filling and mandatory rules operating at that level. What does not happen automatically is flow-down of the main contract terms: that requires deliberate back-to-back drafting.
Signing a UAE construction contract?
Senior counsel only. We negotiate FIDIC and bespoke muqawala contracts for employers and contractors across the UAE.
Construction Counsel →