Defects Notification Period
The period after taking over during which the employer may notify defects in the works and the contractor is obliged to return and rectify them, called the Defects Liability Period in older forms.
FIDIC’s 1999 and 2017 editions call it the Defects Notification Period, where many other forms say Defects Liability Period. The FIDIC name fits what the period limits: when defects may be notified, not how long the contractor is liable. As Tyson’s commentary on the 2017 edition describes it, the period is the one stated in the Contract Data, or 1 year where none is stated, and under Sub-Clause 11.3 an extension may not run more than 2 years beyond the expiry of the stated period.
Its scope is broader than a warranty and narrower than assumed, in the same movement. Published commentary on the 2017 conditions describes the contractor as obliged to rectify everything notified, including defects and damage it did not cause; where the cause is not the contractor’s responsibility, Sub-Clause 11.2 treats the work as if the Engineer had instructed it, so it is a variation and is paid for. The period guarantees attendance by the party that built the works. It does not guarantee that the attendance is free.
At its end comes the Performance Certificate. Tyson’s commentary records that Sub-Clause 11.9 issues it when the contractor has fulfilled its obligations under the contract, and that the 2017 edition adds a precondition: the Engineer’s Notice of No-objection to the as-built records. A conference presentation published by FIDIC quotes Sub-Clause 11.9 as making the Performance Certificate the only document deemed to constitute acceptance of the Works. The period is therefore better understood as the final phase of the contract than as an after-sales arrangement bolted onto a finished one.
Sources
Victoria Tyson, FIDIC 2017: Clause 11, Defects After Taking Over, Howard Kennedy, on Sub-Clauses 11.2, 11.3 and 11.9 and the 1-year default in the Contract Data definition. Jatinder Garcha and Edward Colclough, Fenwick Elliott, Contractual liabilities post completion, 28 January 2021, on rectification of defects the contractor did not cause, and on a defects period not being an exclusive remedy unless the contract clearly says so. Cotovelea, Tsaturova and Glover, Differences between the Civil and Common Law, Part 2: Delay Damages and Taking-Over, a presentation published by FIDIC, slide 9, for the quoted text of Sub-Clause 11.9 on acceptance.
Read the sources
- Tyson, FIDIC 2017: Clause 11, Defects After Taking Over, Howard KennedyFIDIC 2017 second edition, clause commentary; read 2026-09-25.Free. A clause-by-clause commentary that quotes the periods, including the two-year cap on extending the DNP and the as-built records precondition new to Sub-Clause 11.9.
- Cotovelea, Tsaturova and Glover, Differences between the Civil and Common Law, Part 2: Delay Damages and Taking-Overslides 2 and 9, conference presentation; read 2026-09-25.Free, a conference presentation published by FIDIC. Slide 2 quotes Sub-Clause 10.1 on taking over, and slide 9 quotes Red Book Sub-Clause 11.9: only the Performance Certificate is deemed to constitute acceptance of the Works.