Use of private-sector standard clauses ``obligation to make efforts'' to improve price-biased environment / Opinion exchange at MLIT expert panel
At an expert panel of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which is examining how private construction contracts should be in response to material price fluctuations, the use of the standard contract terms and conditions for private construction work prepared and recommended by the Central Construction Industry Council (Chukenshin) was recommended. Some argued that it should be raised to a higher level, such as an obligation to make efforts. There is an awareness of the need for measures to rectify the unilateral nature seen in actual contracts, regardless of the "principle of freedom of contract" in the private sector. Some committee members proposed the use of the Construction Career Up System (CCUS) as an effective tool to improve the current competitive environment overemphasized on price.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism clarified the content of the exchange of opinions held at the 4th meeting of the "Study Group on Environmental Improvement for the Sustainable Construction Industry" held on the 26th. Based on the fact that some provisions of the standard contract for private construction contracts have been deleted or modified at the request of the client, one committee member expressed the opinion that there is no need to excessively comply with the "principle of freedom of contract." Other members also mentioned the need to take legal measures based on the premise that the relationship between ordering and receiving parties should be equal.
There were several members who questioned the exclusion of private businesses from those who violated the "prohibition of unreasonably low contract prices" stipulated in the Construction Business Act. Against the backdrop of the segregation of administrative authority, this provision is addressed by "requesting measures" to the Japan Fair Trade Commission, which has jurisdiction over the Antimonopoly Act. The committee members called for a review to make it possible to make recommendations based on the industry law and to request the submission of reports and materials.
The cost-plus-fee contract/open book method and CM (construction management) method also became a hot topic from the perspective of increasing the transparency of the contract. The contingency included in the contract price of the full price contract as a risk countermeasure is specified as a "risk premium", and the idea of sharing it among the ordering parties was also presented.
One member pointed out that the construction industry lacks evaluation criteria other than price, taking as an example the IT industry, where technological capabilities and know-how are heavily weighted as materials for contract negotiations. He proposed that CCUS could be used to visualize the construction systems and construction capabilities of construction companies, and that "technical differences" could be visualized as a new evaluation axis.
Kazuhisa Nagahashi, director of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's Real Estate and Construction Economy Bureau, also attended the meeting and called on the committee members to "discuss without taboos." He emphasized the need to systematically secure the new 3Ks (salary, vacation, hope), not just as a slogan, and looked forward to the future, asking, "How will CCUS function and lead to one hope for the new 3Ks?"
