Serbia

Contract alliancing (or any other type of partnering collaboration) is not present in Serbia.

The majority of local projects in Serbia are still based on a traditional form of contract governed by the Law on Contract and Torts and Specific Customs on Construction. FIDIC contracts are not widely accepted and are most commonly used in projects funded by international banks and public infrastructure projects (that are, as a rule financed by international financial institutions). Hence, the current setting in Serbia is in favour of traditional contracting forms.

There are no statutory limitations for private investors, contractors, designers and other involved parties to create an alliance - if they are willing to step into alliance and to share all risks and benefits such alliance implies, they are free to do so. In order to regulate their relationship, contracting parties would be required to set their own rules and those rules would, in a way, become the law for the parties.

As for the public sector and projects financed by it, the current legal and regulatory environment does not allow for such contractual creativity – contractors are selected and contracts concluded based on strict rules set out by laws regulating public procurement and public private partnership, which do not allow for the flexibility required under contract alliancing.

Additionally, it seems that the awareness of alliancing is limited. There are no articles/literature or public discussions regarding this concept and its potential application in Serbia.

If it was to be adopted, it is thought that its application would be most useful in complex, risky, projects with numerous uncertainties and limited budget and time, as well as in the area of public procurement / public private partnership.

Due to lack of any practice in contract alliancing, at this point it is difficult to estimate whether a typical alliancing provisions could create effects contrary to the mandatory provisions of the Serbian law. Additionally, as Serbian courts generally tend to take a conservative approach, enforcement of a contemporary concept such as contract alliancing could raise certain difficulties and uncertainties.

Most importantly, however, application of the contract alliancing principle would require a change in culture and attitude of the Serbian construction industry, which, like in any other country, will take time.

Successful outcomes of contract alliancing in other countries should be a green light for Serbian construction industry to, at least, consider testing this concept. Given the traditional rigidity of the Serbian public sector, the initiative will have to come from private sector i.e. primarily from international investors and financiers. The first step in introducing contract alliancing in Serbia would be raising awareness in order for the relevant players to become familiar with positive experiences and advantages of contract alliancing.