FIDIC Claims: The Notice Requirements That Catch International Contractors Out

FIDIC contracts do something JCT does not, and something NEC only hints at: they make the notice a condition of the entitlement. Miss the deadline and the claim does not merely become harder to prove. It stops existing. In January 2026 the Privy Council said so about as plainly as a court can, and contractors are still absorbing it.

The 1999 books: 28 days, then 42

Under Sub-Clause 20.1 of the 1999 Red, Yellow and Silver Books, the Contractor must give notice to the Engineer describing the event or circumstance giving rise to the claim as soon as practicable and not later than 28 days after it became aware, or should have become aware, of it. A fully detailed claim with supporting particulars follows within 42 days of that awareness. Not 42 days from the notice, which is a mistake we see regularly.

The consequence of missing the 28 days is spelled out in the clause itself: the Time for Completion shall not be extended, the Contractor shall not be entitled to additional payment, and the Employer shall be discharged from all liability in connection with the claim. That is classic condition precedent drafting, and there is no discretion written into it.

Two words in the clause do most of the damage in practice. Should have become aware means the clock does not wait for the moment the commercial team finally understands the cost impact. In Obrascon Huarte Lain SA v Her Majesty's Attorney General for Gibraltar [2014] EWHC 1028 (TCC), Akenhead J considered when the obligation bites and took a practical view: notice can be given either when delay is likely to occur or once it actually has. Practical, but not generous. The safe course is always to notify on the earlier understanding.

The 2017 books: the same trap, better signposted

The 2017 second editions restructured Clause 20 so that it deals with both parties' claims symmetrically. The headline dates:

• Sub-Clause 20.2.1: Notice of Claim within 28 days of awareness. Unchanged in substance, and still the point at which most claims are lost.
• Sub-Clause 20.2.4: fully detailed Claim within 84 days of awareness, doubled from the 42 days in the 1999 books. The relief is real, but note the trade-off: submitting the fully detailed Claim on time has itself become a condition precedent, which it was not before.

The genuinely useful addition is Sub-Clause 20.2.2. If the Engineer considers the Notice of Claim was late, the Engineer must say so by notice within 14 days of receiving it. If the Engineer does not, the Notice of Claim is deemed valid. That is a meaningful protection and it is routinely overlooked by contractors who assume a late notice is simply dead. If your notice was arguably out of time and no 14-day challenge arrived, say so, in writing, and keep the Engineer's silence on file.

Where the Engineer does challenge it, Sub-Clause 20.2.5 lets the claiming party explain, as part of the fully detailed Claim, why it disagrees or why late submission was justified. You get to make the argument. You do not get to skip the paperwork.

What the Privy Council decided in January 2026

In Uniform Building Contractors Ltd v The Water and Sewerage Authority of Trinidad and Tobago [2026] UKPC 2, handed down on 22 January 2026, the Board considered a contractor's variation claims under a 1999 Yellow Book design and build contract, and confirmed that Sub-Clause 20.1 operates as a condition precedent. No notice, no claim.

Three points from it are worth carrying onto your next project.

A variation claim still needs a 20.1 notice. The contractor had not followed the variation machinery in Sub-Clauses 13.1 to 13.3, nor Sub-Clause 3.6, nor given notice under 20.1. The Board found the failures fatal. Calling something a variation does not release you from the claims procedure.

Lump sum means lump sum. Under a design and build lump sum contract the contractor carries the risk of the sufficiency of its own design and pricing. Work required to meet the contractual requirements cannot be a variation, however unwelcome the discovery. The analysis has to start with what the Employer's Requirements actually oblige you to deliver.

Termination does not revive a time-barred claim. Termination operates prospectively. It does not disturb rights and liabilities that had already crystallised, so a claim that was already barred when the contract ended stays barred.

Where the notices actually go wrong

Almost none of the FIDIC claims we are asked to rescue failed on the merits. They failed on the mechanics.

• Notifying the wrong person. The notice goes to the Engineer under the Red and Yellow Books. Under the Silver Book there is no Engineer, and it goes to the Employer's Representative. A notice sent to a resident engineer's assistant, or buried in a monthly report, has a habit of not counting.
• Not using the contractual language. The notice should state that it is a notice under Sub-Clause 20.1 (or 20.2.1), identify the event, and be dated. An email complaining about late access is not a notice, and it will not be read as one when the argument arrives two years later.
• One notice for a rolling problem. Where the effect is continuing, the 1999 books require interim claims at monthly intervals and a final claim within 28 days of the effects ending. A single notice in month one does not cover months two to fourteen.
• Treating the fully detailed claim as optional. Under the 2017 editions that is now a condition precedent in its own right. The 84 days is generous; it is not indefinite.
• No register. On a project with a hundred notifiable events, the only thing standing between you and an argument about what was notified when is a claims register that is kept contemporaneously. We publish a free FIDIC notice and claims register for exactly this.

A practical discipline that works

The contractors who do not lose FIDIC claims tend to run the same simple system. One person owns the notice register. Anything that could affect time or money gets a dated entry the week it is spotted, not the month the cost is understood. Notices go out early and are deliberately short, because a notice is not a claim and does not need to be argued. Particulars follow separately, to the 42 or 84 day calendar, tracked as a diary date rather than a good intention. It is unglamorous and it is worth more than any amount of retrospective claim drafting.

If notices have already been missed, that is not always the end. Whether the time bar bites can depend on the governing law, on how the Engineer behaved, on whether prevention or waiver arguments are available, and under the 2017 books on whether the 14-day challenge was made at all. It is worth an hour of proper review before writing the claim off.

FIDIC notice questions

How long do I have to give notice of a claim under FIDIC?

28 days from when you became aware, or should have become aware, of the event or circumstance. That is the position under Sub-Clause 20.1 of the 1999 Red, Yellow and Silver Books and under Sub-Clause 20.2.1 of the 2017 second editions. The fully detailed claim then follows within 42 days under the 1999 books, or 84 days under the 2017 editions, measured from awareness rather than from the notice.

Is the FIDIC 28-day notice period a condition precedent?

Yes under the 1999 books, and the Privy Council confirmed it in Uniform Building Contractors Ltd v WASA [2026] UKPC 2. The clause states that if notice is not given within 28 days the Time for Completion shall not be extended, the Contractor shall not be entitled to additional payment, and the Employer is discharged from all liability in connection with the claim. Enforceability can still turn on the governing law of the contract, which matters on projects outside England and Wales.

What happens if the Engineer does not challenge a late notice under FIDIC 2017?

Under Sub-Clause 20.2.2 the Engineer must give notice within 14 days of receiving a Notice of Claim if the Engineer considers it was served out of time. If no such notice is given, the Notice of Claim is deemed valid. Contractors frequently abandon claims they could still have pursued because they did not check whether the challenge was ever made.

Do I need a notice for a variation under FIDIC?

Yes, if you want to be paid for it. In Uniform Building Contractors Ltd v WASA the contractor's variation claims failed for want of compliance with the variation procedure in Sub-Clauses 13.1 to 13.3 and Sub-Clause 3.6, as well as the notice requirement in 20.1. Follow the variation machinery and give the claims notice; the two obligations sit alongside each other.

Who do I send a FIDIC notice to under the Silver Book?

The Silver Book has no Engineer, so notices go to the Employer's Representative. Check the Particular Conditions as well, because the notice provisions and the named recipient are among the most commonly amended parts of any FIDIC contract.