8th Society of Construction Law Romania International Annual Conference “Perspectives of Construction Law”
Tackling Construction Delays — from Delays in Procurement and Permitting, to Delays in Contract Performance and Dispute Resolution
25 October 2024 — Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE), Bucharest, Romania
About the conference
Hosted together with the Faculty of Law of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the eighth edition of the Society’s international annual conference followed delay through the whole life of a project — from delays in procurement and permitting, to delays in contract performance and the resolution of the disputes they generate.
The conference was opened by Ovidiu Ioan Dumitru, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, founding member and first Chairman of the Society, and by Răzvan Rugină, its current Chairman, and was addressed during the day by Roberto Panetta, Chairman of the European Society of Construction Law.
The first session, on delays in the completion of residential projects and the challenges facing promising buyers, builders and investors, covered the protection of promising buyers through promises of sale and advertising formalities, the liability of the authorities for such delays, the criminal liability of investors, the builder’s own causes of delay and the relevant criminal case law in the construction sector. It was followed by academic papers on green energy production on meadows, superficies as a real right of praetorian origin, and the dismantling of construction between public interest and social need.
The second session addressed delays in public procurement — market consultation as the start of a successful project, the causes of delay in the preparation and conduct of award procedures, the technical and contractual preparation of award documentation, price adjustment and performance bonds, and the contracting authority’s position between “unreasonably low” and “unjustifiably high” prices.
The third session turned to delays in contract performance and dispute resolution: the challenges facing the construction sector, the conduct of the parties when an extension of time claim is rejected, trends in national and international arbitration, the effective management of delay-related claims in formal proceedings, and how experts quantify the effect of delay on contract completion.
The conference was organised in partnership with the Romanian Association of Construction Entrepreneurs (ARACO), PSC and RSBL, with OVI Group as sponsor, and with C.H. Beck, Wolters Kluwer Romania, Juridice, DCNews and Agerpres among the media partners.
