发布时间： Fri Oct 12 16:39:41 CST 2018 供稿人：丁建勇 刘念琼
本文原载于《商法》2018年9月|第9辑第8期，北京仲裁委员会授权转发。
建设工程类争议因其较强的专业性、当事人间矛盾积累的长期性、司法实践的不统一性等问题，已成为传统的诉讼程序中较难及时、有效解决的一类争议。基于当事人意思自治、专家断案、一裁终局等仲裁的特性，仲裁程序或成为当事人解决相应争议的更佳选择。北京仲裁委员会/北京国际仲裁中心（北仲）作为亚太区域领先的仲裁机构之一，建设工程类案件在过去五年占其全部案件量的12.5%，争议金额超过人民币 亿元。本文试就该些案件简要梳理相应的裁决思路，以飨读者。
丁建勇 DING JIANYONG
审慎性。仲裁权来源于当事人的授权，同时具有一裁终局的特性，因此仲裁庭需要审慎地就审理范围和实体事项进行判断和裁决，避免仲裁裁决在相应的司法监督程序中轻易遭受挑战。对于建设工程类争议中较为常见的问题，比如施工过程中可能涉及的借款事项、设备租赁事项等是否属于施工合同涵盖的范围、施工过程中发生的超出约定施工范围的情形是否属于施工合同项下的洽商变更等问题，仲裁庭不仅需要严格审核证据，还需要充分衡量当事人权利救济以及纠纷解决成本等因素，在不违背现有司法理念的前提下谨慎作出裁断。
专业性。专家断案是仲裁相较于诉讼的另一优势，尤其在建设工程类案件中得以充分体现。在北仲处理的建设工程类仲裁案件中，仲裁庭通常会包括施工、造价、法律三个领域的专家，以鉴代审的情况很少出现。大多数仲裁庭可以通过组织双方核算，甚至自行根据当事人提交的结算资料进行计算，妥善解决双方在结算数额方面的争议，大幅提高了结案效率。同时，仲裁庭能够发挥自身在工程领域的优势，结合法律适用和施工过程中涉及的专业知识，融合法律、规章、乃至行业惯例的相关规定，从不同角度在裁决中公开其心证过程，以专业赢得各方对裁决结果的认可和尊重。
公平性。基于仲裁的保密特性，仲裁庭在对建设工程类案件的具体问题进行判断时能够充分衡量个案因素（综合考量签约背景、履约过程、双方过错以及现状处理等因素），不能也无需就相同法律问题作出机械化、程式化的裁断。比如，对于建设工程合同里常见的“背靠背”条款，仲裁庭可能会考虑工程竣工验收或交付使用至提起仲裁时的时间是否过长、总包方有无拖延结算或怠于行使权利的行为、分包工程款占整个工程款的比例、发包人给总包方的已付工程款能否明确不包括本案分包部分的工程款以及承包人能否从发包人处取得证据等因素决定其效力，而出发点皆是保证个案的公平性。
契约性。仲裁裁决偏向于尊重当事人的意思自治及实际履行情况的特点，在北仲的建设工程类案件中也能够得到印证。例如，在建设工程的招投标项目中较为常见的不平衡报价，属于当事人在正常商业行为中的协商和讨价还价策略，在没有出现利益严重失衡的情况下，仲裁庭一般不会轻易否认其效力。在极端情况下，仲裁庭仍需要考虑招标人是否是建筑行业中有从业经验的商事主体，是否聘请第三方咨询机构介入了招投标过程、进行了相应监督与管控，以及不平衡报价是否产生了严重后果来对其效力进行判断。另外，当事人单纯以合同无效、无权代理等理由否定此前双方已达成的签证或结算效力，在实践中也较难得到支持。
小结。在建设工程类仲裁案件中，可能需要处理当事人之间包括合同主体、合同效力、工程价款的结算与支付、优先受偿权、工程质量和工期等方面在内的多种争议。就北仲实践而言，在过去五年中的建设工程类仲裁案件，平均结案时间（即从组庭到结案的时间）为 152天，尚未有被法院撤销仲裁裁决的案件，这充分体现了仲裁在解决建设工程类案件中的独特优势。
It is difficult to resolve construction disputes efficiently and effectively by means of litigation, due to the complexity of factual aspects, the length of contractual performances and inconsistencies of related practices.Based on party autonomy in the process,the feasibility of having arbitrators with expertise and the finality of the award,arbitration may well be a better way to resolve construction disputes. As one of the leading arbitration institutions in the Asia Pacific,the construction disputes the Beijing Arbitration Commission/Beijing International Arbitration Center (BAC/BIAC) handled accounted for 12.5% of its case load in the past five years, with the amount involved totalling RMB26 billion. This article tries to disclose briefly the BAC/BIAC tribunal’s discretion in these construction disputes.
Discretion. The power of arbitral tribunal is restricted by parties’ autonomy,while the finality of arbitral awards will profoundly affect the outcome of the dispute resolution. As such, a tribunal has to clarify the scope of arbitration carefully and decide disputed matters in order to avoid arbitral awards being challenged in subsequent judicial reviews.
For example, where a tribunal decides if the financing, loans and equipment leasing during the construction period fall within the scope of arbitration,or where a tribunal is considering if executed construction works beyond the prescribed scope of work are changes of work by agreement under the construction contracts, evidence, the feasibility of other remedies, and the cost-effective consideration of dispute resolution all play roles in the tribunal’s discretion.The discretion has to follow the common sense of current judicial practice.
Expertise. Having arbitrators with expertise makes arbitration advantageous relative to litigation. This is especially true in construction disputes.In the BAC/BIAC’s construction caseload, the arbitral tribunal usually includes a technical engineer, a cost engineer and a legal expert. It is not common to rely solely on a third party’s appraisal for a tribunal to decide the construction costs. Most arbitral tribunals are capable of making effective arrangements to clarify the concrete disputes of the construction costs. A few tribunals may even be capable of doing their own calculations of the construction costs, based on the evidence of parties involved. Such expertise greatly helps arbitral tribunals resolve efficiently and effectively disputes over construction costs.
Also, the expertise allows a tribunal to articulate its discretion where matters involve the precise understanding of construction works and application of laws. When a tribunal is able to consider the provisions of laws, regulations and even industry practices to come up with clear reasoning in the award from different angles, then parties tend to respect and honour the arbitral awards.
Fairness and equity. The confidentiality of arbitration, to a certain extent,allows arbitral tribunals to consider the uniqueness of each case (e.g., the contracting background, performance,liability, status quo, etc.). A tribunal cannot and does not need to make references to other cases or make stylized decisions on the same legal issues. For example, when parties raise questions about the validity of a widely adopted“pay-when-paid” clause, a tribunal may consider the length of period between the project’s completion, acceptance or project delivery and arbitration, the liability of the main contractor for delay in settling with the owner any payment or in lodging any claims against the owner,the proportion of the subcontract costs to the overall project costs, the overlap of the payment the owner already made to the main-contractor with the payment under the sub-contract and the main-contractor's difficulty of obtaining evidence relating to construction costs from the owner, etc. Nevertheless,fairness and equity are paramount of alldifferent considerations.
Respect of contract. Normally, the arbitral tribunals respect contract languages, as well as actual performances, to decide on disputes correspondingly. This practice is also confirmed by BAC/BIAC tribunals in construction cases.For example, the unbalanced quotation,a common negotiation and bargaining strategy in the construction field,is regularly challenged in BAC/BIAC cases. A tribunal, however, will not deny the validity of the quotation and reopen the bidding process if no serious injustice results from such a bidding process. In extreme circumstances, the arbitral tribunal will look further into the tenderee’s experience in organizing construction bidding, the participation of a specialized consulting firm and its performance in supervising the bidding process, and the severity of the outcome of such unbalanced quotations.
Similarly, it is also rare to deny the existence and validity of engineering orders and confirmation based on the complaint of invalidity of the contract or invalid authorization of a signatory.
Summary. In the construction disputes,the arbitral tribunals will address a wide range of specialized matters, including parties’ capacity, the validity of contract, the project cost, the right to be compensated in first priority, the project quality, the compensation of delay, etc. As far as the BAC/BIAC’s practice is concerned, in the past five years,the average duration of the arbitration process (from the constitution of the tribunal to the conclusion of the case) is 152 days and the people’s court has not set aside any of the awards in the cases.This clearly points to the advantages of arbitration as a better method of resolving construction disputes.
作者：北京仲裁委员会/北京国际仲裁中心副秘书长丁建勇、北仲仲裁秘书刘念琼
Ding Jianyong is the deputy secretary general and Liu Nianqiong is a case manager at Beijing Arbitration Commission/Beijing International Arbitration Center
