The colour of the FIDIC book decides who designed the works, whether an Engineer administers the contract at all, and how the contractor is paid for what it builds.
A FIDIC contract tells you three things before you read a single clause, and all three are decided by which book it is. Who did the design. Whether anyone stands between the employer and the contractor to administer the contract and certify payment. And how the contractor gets paid for what it builds. Those three answers are different in each book, and a term that is ordinary in one of them is a serious risk transfer in another.
FIDIC is the International Federation of Consulting Engineers. It publishes standard forms for use between employers and contractors, and the forms are known by the colours of their covers rather than by their titles, which is why a conversation about a project can run for an hour on the word "Yellow" without anyone naming the document.
This article is about identifying the document in front of you and knowing what follows from it. The mechanics that sit inside every construction contract, whatever its form, are covered elsewhere on this site: how a construction project is structured, how an extension of time is applied for, and what a claim has to prove.
Which book you are holding
The suite most projects draw on was published in September 1999 and each book in it carries the words First Edition 1999 on the cover.
The Construction Contract, known as the Red Book, is the form for building and engineering works designed by the employer. FIDIC describes the arrangement it was written for: the employer or the Engineer did nearly all the design, the Engineer administered the contract, monitored the construction work and certified payment, the employer was kept fully informed and could make variations, and payment followed bills of quantities or lump sums for approved work done.
The Plant and Design-Build Contract, the Yellow Book, is the form for electrical and mechanical plant and for works designed by the contractor. The contractor does the majority of the design so that the works meet the Employer's Requirements, an outline or performance specification prepared by the employer. The Engineer still administers the contract and certifies payment, and payment generally follows achieved milestones on a lump sum basis.
The EPC/Turnkey Contract, the Silver Book, is the form for fixed price turnkey work. The contractor takes total responsibility for design and construction, the employer gets a higher degree of certainty that the agreed price and time will not be exceeded, and the employer pays more for the construction in return for the contractor bearing the extra risks that certainty costs.
The Short Form of Contract, the Green Book, is for small or simple work. FIDIC suggests it where the price is relatively small, saying under five hundred thousand United States dollars, or the construction time is short, saying less than six months, or the work is relatively simple or repetitive. It does not matter under the Short Form whether the employer or the contractor provides the design.
Two further forms come up often enough to name. The White Book is the Client/Consultant Model Services Agreement, which is the contract with the consultant rather than with the contractor. The MDB Harmonised Edition of the Construction Contract was licensed by FIDIC to the Multilateral Development Banks in 2005 and is for bank financed projects only.
Who did the design, and what follows from it
The design question is not a technical detail. It decides who answers when the works do not perform.
Under the Red Book the employer's design is the employer's problem. The contractor builds what it was given, and a defect that traces back to the design is not ordinarily the contractor's defect. Under the Yellow and Silver Books the contractor designed it, and the same defect lands differently.
Ground conditions are where the books separate most sharply. FIDIC's own guidance says that where underground works in uncertain or difficult ground conditions are likely, the risk of unforeseen ground conditions should be borne by the employer, and that the provisions of the Plant and Design-Build Contract in that respect, Sub-Clause 4.12, would be appropriate. That is guidance about choosing the form. An employer who takes the Silver Book for a project with difficult ground, without adjusting it, has moved a risk that FIDIC itself says should sit with the employer.
Where the works are defective once built, the route the claim takes is set out in building defects and who answers for them.
The Engineer, and the contract that has none
Under the Construction and the Plant and Design-Build Contracts there is an Engineer. The Engineer administers the contract, monitors the work and certifies payment. The Engineer is not the employer, and treating the two as the same person is one of the more expensive mistakes available on a construction project, because notices and applications that have to reach the Engineer do not count as given because somebody told the employer.
The EPC/Turnkey Contract has no Engineer. FIDIC describes it as organised on a strictly two party approach, for an employer who does not wish to be involved in the day to day progress of the work provided the end result meets the performance criteria specified. Everything that would have gone to an Engineer goes to the employer or its representative instead.
Who the other people on the project are, and which of them can bind whom, is set out in the people on a construction project.
The year on the cover
A clause number means nothing until the edition is known, and this is the single most common source of confusion in correspondence about a FIDIC project.
The Construction, Plant and Design-Build and EPC/Turnkey Contracts each exist in a First Edition of 1999 and a Second Edition of 2017, and the Second Editions were reprinted in 2022 with amendments. The Short Form is in its Second Edition of 2021. The White Book is in its Fifth Edition of 2017. The Underground Works Contract, the Emerald Book, was published in 2019. Before that suite there were the 1987 Red and Yellow Books and the 1995 Orange Book, and contracts on those older forms are still met on long running matters.
A letter that cites a sub-clause without naming the edition is a letter that may be citing a provision the contract does not contain. Read the cover first.
What Cyprus law does to a FIDIC contract
FIDIC publishes contracts, not legislation. A FIDIC form has no force of its own: it takes effect through the governing law the parties chose, and where that is Cyprus law the general rules of contract in the Contract Law, Cap. 149, apply to it as they would to any other agreement.
Three consequences follow for a project in Cyprus.
The particular conditions decide the contract. The printed general conditions are the starting point, and the particular conditions written for the project amend them. Where the two conflict, the particular conditions ordinarily prevail, so a FIDIC contract cannot be advised on from the printed book alone.
The dispute clause is an arbitration agreement, and it is governed by the arbitration legislation rather than by FIDIC. Domestic arbitration in Cyprus sits under the Arbitration Law, Cap. 4, and international commercial arbitration under Law 101/1987. What the clause chooses, and whether it chose a seat, decides which of those applies, and a clause that names neither is a clause that has not finished the job.
The clocks run separately. A FIDIC contract sets its own periods for notices and applications, and the Limitation of Actionable Rights Law of 2012, Law 66(I)/2012, sets the period for bringing an action. They are different clocks measured from different events, and complying with one says nothing about the other.
What this means in practice
Identify the book and the edition before anything else, because every other answer depends on them. The cover gives you the form and the year; the particular conditions tell you what was changed; and only then does a clause number mean something.
Then ask the three questions the book has already answered. Who designed the works, and therefore who answers for how they perform. Whether there is an Engineer, and if there is, that notices reach the Engineer and not only the employer. And how payment is measured, because a form written for bills of quantities and a form written for milestones behave differently the moment the programme slips.
An employer choosing a form is choosing a risk allocation, not a document. A contractor handed a form is being handed one. Neither is improved by discovering in month eighteen which one it was.
Questions we are asked
What are the FIDIC colours and what do they mean?
They are the informal names of FIDIC's standard forms. The Construction Contract is the Red Book, for works designed by the employer. The Plant and Design-Build Contract is the Yellow Book, for works designed by the contractor to the employer's requirements. The EPC/Turnkey Contract is the Silver Book, for fixed price turnkey projects. The Short Form of Contract is the Green Book. The Client/Consultant Model Services Agreement is the White Book.
Which FIDIC book should be used for a building the employer has designed?
The Construction Contract, the Red Book. FIDIC's own guidance describes it as the form for traditional projects where the employer or the Engineer did nearly all the design, the Engineer administers the contract, monitors the work and certifies payment, and payment follows bills of quantities or lump sums for approved work done.
Is there an Engineer under every FIDIC contract?
No, and this is the difference that surprises people most. The EPC/Turnkey Contract, the Silver Book, is organised on a strictly two party approach without an Engineer involved. Under the Construction and the Plant and Design-Build Contracts the Engineer administers the contract and certifies payment.
Does the edition on the cover matter?
Yes. The Construction, Plant and Design-Build and EPC/Turnkey Contracts each exist as a First Edition of 1999 and a Second Edition of 2017, the Second Editions reprinted in 2022 with amendments. The Short Form is in its Second Edition of 2021 and the White Book in its Fifth Edition of 2017. Clause numbering and machinery differ between editions, so a clause reference means nothing until the edition is known.
What is the MDB Harmonised Edition?
A version of the Construction Contract licensed by FIDIC to the Multilateral Development Banks in 2005, for bank financed projects only. It mainly incorporates Particular Conditions to the Red Book that the World Bank had used in its standard bidding documents before the banks adopted the harmonised edition.
Does FIDIC override Cyprus law?
No. FIDIC publishes contracts, not legislation. A FIDIC form takes effect through whatever governing law the parties chose, and where that is Cyprus law the general rules of contract in Cap. 149 apply to it like any other agreement.
Sources
- Which FIDIC Contract should I use?, International Federation of Consulting Engineers
- FIDIC bookshop, current editions of the contract forms
- Contract Law, Cap. 149, consolidated text, CyLaw
- Arbitration Law, Cap. 4, consolidated text, CyLaw
This article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Klitos Platis
Advocate, Partner
Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia · Published 14 September 2026
Need advice on your own matter?
Send us the documents and a short description at office@kleanthousplatis.com and we will reply within one business day.
Or use the enquiry form, message us on WhatsApp, or call +357 22 680 330.
Receive legal updates by email
When Cyprus law changes, hear it from us
One short email when something changes that matters: new legislation, a decision worth knowing, a deadline. Written by the partners, no marketing, unsubscribe with one click.
You are on the list. The next update on Cyprus law will reach your inbox.
That did not go through. Please write to office@kleanthousplatis.com and we will add you.
Your address is used for these updates and nothing else.