The construction industry has faced major challenges in recent years. A number of different circumstances have had a great impact on the global economy, one of the largest being Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, but also the Covid-19 pandemic, the impending energy crisis and the increasing inflation. The effects of these events have had an impact on delayed deliveries as well as labor and materials in construction projects. In a fixed-price contract, it is usually the contractor who bears the risk for cost changes. The regulation in 6:3 AB 04 and ABT 06 exists to balance unforeseeable cost changes, in that unpredictable cost changes can lead to the fixed price being adjusted. The purpose of the regulation is to make it possible for the employer to obtain tenders that are comparable. Otherwise, the contractor’s risk calculation would partly be based on arbitrariness. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze in which situations a party can request a price adjustment in accordance with 6:3 AB 04 and ABT 06 and shed light on other possible regulations regarding cost changes by examining the corresponding Norwegian and Danish standard contracts. Furthermore, the thesis examines how the parties in commercial constructions negotiate contracts when they are not satisfied with the solution prescribed in the standard agreements, i.e. how the parties can adjust the risks with an index. This is done by applying legal dogmatic method in combination with comparative method. The thesis also contains elements from sociology of law, regarding how the industry has adapted today’s challenges in index clauses in construction agreements. This thesis explains in greater detail the different components of 6:3 AB 04 and ABT 06 in order to clarify in which situations the regulation can be applied. The conclusion is that 6:3 consists of a number of unclear components, which require a legal assessment that determines whether the regulation can be applied. However, certain components have been able to be clarified, such as the relationship between the relevant circumstance and foreseeability, which point in time that is decisive for the foreseeability assessment and how several different cost changes can affect the materiality. An index might be useful while examining 6:3 since an index can be used as an aid in determining abnormal price changes and in the materiality assessment. The thesis compares the Swedish regulation with the Norwegian and Danish regulations, which leads to the conclusion that there is no Nordic cooperation regarding price adjustment due to cost changes. The Norwegian standard contracts are based on an indexation regulation, otherwise there is no possibility for a party to request a price adjustment, except regarding government fees. Similar to the Norwegian regulation, the Danish standard contracts are also based on an indexation regulation, which regulates the price from one year after the tender. The Danish standard contracts also contain a provision that can provide price adjustment as a result of cost increases for materials and fuel if the increases reach certain percentages. While the Danish regulation contains more concrete components, the Swedish regulation is more flexible and includes several different types of cost changes. Finally, an increased interest has been noted regarding index clauses in Swedish constructions. The thesis discusses the impact of the choice of index regulation. Whether the index handles current cost changes in such a way that the contractor receives full coverage for his expenses, depends to a large extent on which index is chosen and how the index clause is formulated.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-214676 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Atran, Malin |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Juridiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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