涉外建筑工程分包合同的法律适用

（Applicable Law Governing Subcontract for Foreign Construction Engineering Project）

案例：中国某海外工程公司承包了波兰的某大型建筑项目, 承包商与分包商均为中国的建筑商，它们之间签订了该工程的分包合同，该工程在波兰如期开始施工，但该项目仅进行了一年多时间,因各种原因波兰方面就提出解除合同，并索取巨额的赔偿。由于该纠纷涉及到承包商与分包商之间的违约问题，在诉讼中承包商与分包商的一方认为应适用不动产所在地波兰法律，另一方认为由于双方均为中国建筑商，理应适用中国法律，这就产生了涉外建筑工程分包合同的多国法律冲突与适用问题。

Case: A
construction engineering company of China (the “Contractor”), has
contracted a large-scale construction project in Poland and subcontracted
the project to a Subcontractor, which is also a Chinese builder, by
entering into a subcontract thereof. Construction
of the project commenced as scheduled and proceeded for only over one year before the Poland party proposed termination of the subcontract for
various reasons and claimed for a large sum of compensation. The claim involves
a dispute over breach of contract between the Contractor and the Subcontractor.
In the litigation process, one party thereto claimed that the laws
of Poland shall govern by reason that the real estate of the
project is located in Poland; while the other party thereto claimed that the
laws of China shall govern by reason that both parties to the subcontract are
Chinese builders. This gives rise to a matter on conflict of laws of various
countries and the governing laws in respect of a subcontract of foreign
construction engineering project.

I.        
涉外建设工程分包合同的法律主体

Legal
Entities of Subcontract of Foreign Construction Engineering Project

在国际工程承包领域，由于项目工程大，总承包商往往会将工程的某些部分或总工程量的一定比例分派给一些符合资质条件的分包商完成。而在分包过程中若出现分包合同不能正常履行而导致分包商违约或因分包商的责任导致总承包商的额外损失的情况下，就会产生业主、总承包商与分包商三者之间的法律关系。

In
the practice of contract for international
engineering projects, general contractors of large-scale projects generally assign
certain part(s) of the projects (or make assignment of the total project
quantity by certain proportion) to subcontractors with
corresponding qualifications. In case of breach of contract by the
subcontractors due to failure of proper performance of corresponding subcontracts
or in case of any extra losses sustained by the general contractors for reasons
attributed to the subcontracts, legal relations among the project owners, general
contractors and subcontractors come into existence.   

FIDIC是国际咨询工程师联合会的简称，其制定的许多规范性文件广泛应用于国际工程承包项目。《FIDIC土木工程施工合同》的合同条件中规定分包可以由业主和承包商在签订合同时指定好，或由工程师指令承包商雇用分包商承担部分工作。对于指定分包商（Nominated
Subcontractor），FIDIC合同条件规定若产生若承包商反对雇用指定分包商，而业主却坚持使用分包商的情况下，承包商对于分包商出现的问题不需要向业主承担责任。但这与我国关于业主、总承包商与分包商的规定是相冲突的，我国《建设工程施工合同（示范文本）》38.3条有对分包的原则性规定：“工程分包不能解除承包人任何责任与义务。承包人应在分包场地派驻相应管理人员，保证本合同的履行。分包单位的任何违约行为或疏忽导致工程损害或给发包人造成其他损失，承包人承担连带责任。”由此可以看出，我国相关规定要求承包商对因分包商造成的损失也应承担相应连带责任。这样一来，我国涉外建设工程承包合同的法律关系更加复杂化，一个国际建设工程承包关系会涉及多个承包商与分包商，它们往往位于不同的国家，在适用法律问题上就会牵涉到管辖权的冲突。

The
acronym “FIDIC” stands for the International Federation of
Consulting Engineers. Many of its regulatory documents apply extensively to
international engineering contract projects. Under FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Works
of Civil Engineering Construction, the
owner and the contractor under a contract for works of civil engineering
construction may stipulate matters on subcontract
upon entering into the contract, or the contractor may, under the engineer’s
instructions, employ a subcontractor to undertake part of the contract project.
As to the nominated subcontractor, under FIDIC
Conditions of Contract, if the contractor refused to employ a
nominated subcontractor and the owner insisted on employing a subcontractor,
the contractor shall not be held liable to the owner for any matter caused by the
subcontractor. Such provisions are in conflict with provisions of China on the
relations among the owners, general contractors and subcontractors. According
to provisions of subcontracting principle under Article 38.3 of the Sample of PRC's Construction Engineering Contract, “project
subcontracting shall not release a contractor from any liability or obligation
under a construction engineering contract; the contractor shall dispatch
relevant management personnel to station on the site of subcontracting to
ensure performance of the contract; the contractor shall be jointly and
severally liable for any damages to the project or other losses to the contract-offering
party caused by any breach or negligence of subcontractors”, the contractor
shall be jointly and severally liable for losses caused by the subcontractor. Such
conflict of laws makes legal relations under foreign construction engineering
contracts more complicated. An international construction engineering contract may
involve many contractors and subcontractors from different countries, giving
rise to conflict of governing laws.  

II.     
我国涉外建设工程分包合同关系的法律适用

Laws
Governing Relations under a Foreign Construction Engineering Contract in China  

我国《建设工程施工合同（示范文本）》37.1款在承发包双方解决争端问题上做了如此规定：“发包人承包人在履行合同时发生争议，可以和解或者要求有关主管部门调解。当事人不愿和解、调解或者和解、调解不成的，双方可以在专用条款内约定一种方式解决争议：第一种解决方式：双方达成仲裁协议，向约定的仲裁委员会申请仲裁；第二种解决方式：向有管辖权的人民法院起诉。”由此可以看出，仲裁或诉讼为我国建设工程施工合同发生纠纷时可选择的争端解决方式。

With
respect of settlement of dispute between a contract-offering party and the
contractor, Article 37.1 of the Sample of
PRC's Construction Engineering Contract
stipulates as follows: any dispute arising from performance of the contract
by either the contract-offering party or the contractor may be settled through amicable
consultation or through mediation presided by relevant competent
authorities. In case of either parties’ unwillingness to or failure to reach a
settlement through amicable consultation or mediation, both parties may select
one of the following dispute settlement methods pursuant to special provisions:
one method is to submit an arbitration agreement concluded by and between both
parties to an arbitration commission as agreed for arbitration; the other
method is to initiate litigation proceedings with a people’s court of competent
jurisdiction. It can be seen that arbitration and litigation are two optional
methods available for settlement of disputes over construction
engineering contracts in China.

由于涉外建筑工程的业主、承包商与分包商分布在不同国家，在发生纠纷时，究竟适用哪一国的法律是在实务中出现的较多的问题。我国现有法律并未对涉外建筑工程承包与分包合同纠纷案件管辖权作出明确规定，在法律适用上主要依照《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》与《中华人民共和国涉外民事关系法律适用法》相关规定，而在FIDIC发布的标准合同版本中，并没有限制或明确约定有关适用特别法律的条款。国内外法律中的部分相关条款如下：

Due
to the fact that the owner, contractor(s) and subcontractor(s) under a foreign
construction engineering project may come from different countries, the fairly
commonly seen problem in practice is, in case of any dispute arising
from the project, by the laws of which country shall the dispute be governed.
Prevailing laws of China contain no expressive provisions on foreign
construction engineering contracts or jurisdictions on
cases of disputes over subcontract. In China, disputes on governing
laws are mainly settled pursuant to relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Law of PRC and
the Law
of the Application of Law for Foreign-related Civil Relations.
In the FIDIC conditions of contract, the FIDIC forms are
not restricted, nor intended, for use under a particular governing law.
Specific domestic and foreign legal provisions on such disputes are as follows:

1、       《民事诉讼法》第23条规定，“因合同纠纷发生的诉讼，由被告住所地或者合同履行地法院管辖。”；

As
provided for in Article 23 of the Civil
Procedure Law of PRC, “A lawsuit brought on a contract dispute
shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court of the place where the
defendant has his domicile or where the contract is performed”.

2、       《民事诉讼法》第34条规定，“合同或者其他财产权益纠纷的当事人可以书面协议选择被告住所地、合同履行地、合同签订地、原告住所地、标的物所在地等与争议有实际联系的地点的人民法院管辖，但不得违反本法对级别管辖和专属管辖的规定。”；

As
provided for in Article 34 of the Civil
Procedure Law of PRC, “A
party to the contract or other property dispute may choose by written agreement
to be under the jurisdiction of the people’s court in the location of the
defendant’s domicile, where the contract is performed or signed, in the
location of the plaintiff’s domicile, in the location of the subject matter or
in other locations which have actual connections with the dispute, provided
that the provisions on hierarchical jurisdiction and exclusive jurisdiction are
not violated”.