NEC 4 ECC Terms and Expressions

Go to End

Note

26/3/2026: Page title changed from "Terms and Defined Terms" to "Terms and Expressions". Various sections added.

20/1/2023: Various forms of Senior Representative added.

8/8/2022: General updating.

18/7/2022: Created.

Pronouns for the parties

(Section added, 26/3/2026)

  • NEC4 ECC uses "it" as the pronouns for the persons or parties involved.
  • Note the following cases:
    • "13.3 If the contract requires the Project Manager, the Supervisor or the Contractor to reply to a communication, unless otherwise stated in these conditions of contract, they reply within the period for reply."
    • "14.2 The Project Manager and the Supervisor, after notifying the Contractor, may delegate any
      of their actions and may cancel any delegation. The notification contains the name of the
      delegate and details of the actions being delegated or any cancellation of delegation. A
      reference to an action of the Project Manager or the Supervisor in the contract includes an
      action by their delegate. The Project Manager and the Supervisor may take an action which
      they have delegated."
  • When "A, B and C" is used, it means all of A, B and C. The collective pronoun should be "they".
  • When "A, B or C" is used, it means one of A, B or C. The pronoun should be singular or plural depending on whether A, or B or C is singular or plural. In the above cases, "or" should be followed by "it".

Various Documents

(Section added, 26/3/2026)

  • NEC4 ECC does not mention any of the following documents in singular or plural, lower case or upper initial case
    • Instructions to Tenderer
    • Conditions of Tendering / Conditions of Tender
    • Form of Tender
    • Tender Documents
    • Contract Documents
    • Articles of Agreement.
  • Those documents when used would need to be self-defined.

Clause referencing

(Section added, 26/3/2026)

  • NEC4 ECC uses the following clause numbering system and style, with no further indentation to those as shown below:
    1      Main clause
            • bullet point
    10.1 Sub-clause
            (1)  Sub-sub-clause 
            •   bullet point
            (2)  Sub-sub-clause     
    10.2 Sub-clause
            • bullet point
    2      Main clause
  • There are only 9 Core Clauses from 1 to 9. "10" above means sub-clause 10, not clause 10.
  • There are 6 Main Option Clauses. Their clause numbers still follow the 6 Core Clause numbers but have additional sub-clause numbers or sub-sub-clause numbers. Therefore clause like "M.n" can mean a sub-clause in Core Clauses or Main Option Clauses.
  • Other Option Clauses are named in the style of "XM" or "XM.n" where "X" is one or more alpha characters and "M" or "M.n" is a number like the above,
  • NEC4 ECC does not use the style like "clause M" or "Clause M" in the clauses for cross-referencing.
  • It uses "this clause" within the relevant clause.
  • "Core Clauses", "Main Option Clauses", "Resolving and Avoiding Disputes" and "Secondary Option Clauses" have been used in the Contents page as section headings only, and their upper case forms have been used as page headings.This is not definitive of the style to be used when cross-referencing an individual clause.
  • The style to be used can therefore be "clause M" or "Clause M" unless otherwise used in the other parts of the Tender Documents.
  • It is preferred to use "Clause M" and it may need to use "Core Clause M" or "Main Option Clause M" to help find the clause because Core Claues and Main Option Clauses share the same numbering system.

conditions of contract

  • The conditions of contract include all core clauses, selected option clauses, and additional conditions of contract (which is Secondary Option Clause Option Z).

Identified Terms (terms identified in the Contract Data and shown in italics)

  • access date
  • access dates
  • activity schedule
  • additional conditions of contract
  • Adjudicator
  • Adjudicator nominating body
  • Adjudicator’s
  • arbitration procedure
  • assessment interval
  • beneficiaries
  • beneficiary
  • bill of quantities
  • boundary of the site
  • Client
  • Client’s
  • completion date
  • completion dates
  • condition
  • conditions of contract
  • Contractor
  • Contractor’s
  • Contractor’s share percentages
  • Cost Manager
  • Cost Manager’s
  • currency of the contract
  • defect correction period
  • defects date
  • defects dates
  • delay damages
  • Dispute Avoidance Board nominating body
  • exchange rates
  • fee percentage
  • fee percentages
  • incentive schedule
  • information execution plan
  • interest rate
  • key date
  • key dates
  • key person
  • key persons
  • language of the contract
  • law of the contract
  • method of measurement
  • named supplier
  • named suppliers
  • people rates
  • period for reply
  • project bank
  • Project Manager
  • Project Manager’s
  • Promoter
  • Promoter’s objective
  • retention free
  • retention percentage
  • section 
  • section’s
  • sections
  • sections’
  • Senior Representative
  • Senior Representative's
  • Senior Representatives
  • Senior Representatives’
  • share ranges
  • starting date
  • Subcontractor undertaking to Others
  • Subcontractor undertaking to the Client
  • Supervisor
  • Supervisor’s
  • tribunal
  • undertaking to Others
  • value engineering percentage
  • weather data
  • weather measurements
  • working areas
  • works

(various forms of Senior Representative added, 21/1/2023)

Defined Terms (have capital initials)

  • Accepted Programme
  • Activity Schedule
  • Authorisation
  • Base Date Index
  • Bill of Quantities
  • Budget
  • Completion
  • Completion Date
  • Contract Data
  • Contract Date
  • Core Group
  • Core Group Members
  • Corrupt Act
  • Defect
  • Defects
  • Defects Certificate
  • Defined Cost
  • Disallowed Cost
  • Dispute Avoidance Board
  • Early Warning Register
  • Equipment
  • Fee
  • Insurance Table
  • Joining Deed
  • Key Date
  • Key Performance Indicator
  • Latest Index
  • Materials
  • Named Suppliers
  • Others
  • Own Contract
  • Parties
  • Partnering Information
  • Partners
  • People Rates
  • Plant
  • Price Adjustment Factor
  • Price for Work Done to Date
  • Prices
  • Pricing Information
  • Project Cost
  • Provide the Works
  • Schedule of Partners
  • Scope
  • Short Schedule of Cost Components
  • Site
  • Site Information
  • Specialist Subcontractor
  • Stage One
  • Stage Two
  • Subcontractor
  • Supplier
  • Total of the Prices
  • Trust Deed
  • Working Areas

Terms to be converted from GCC or SMM4 to NEC4

GCC or SMM4 NEC4
Architect (as Supervising Officer) Project Manager
Bill of Quantities bill of quantities
Bills of Quantities bill of quantities
claim for additional payment notification of compensation event
claim for extension of time notification of compensation event
claim for extension of time and/or additional payment notification of compensation event
Conditions of Contract conditions of contract
condition (working condition) condition
Cost (in GCC) Defined Cost (many different names)
date for commencement of the Contract Contract Date
date for commencement of the Works starting date
date for possession of the Site access date
date of acceptance of the Tender Contract Date
date of the award of the Contract Contract Date
date of the letter of acceptance Contract Date
Defects Liability Period The period between Completion and the defects date
Employer Client (Employer in NEC3)
equipment (for incorporation into the Works) Plant
expiry of the Maintenance Period defects date
extension of time change to the Completion Date
Final Contract Sum final total of the Prices
GCC Clause 16 Programme Accepted Programme
Period of Maintenance The period between Completion and the defects date
plant (construction plant) Equipment
Price Fluctuation Factor Price Adjustment Factor
Schedule of Rates bill of quantities
Supervising Officer Project Manager
Supervising Officer's Representative Supervisor
Surveyor (Quantity Surveyor) Cost Manager
the Contractor the Contractor
the date for completion of the Works completion date
the extended date for completion of the Works Completion Date
the Main Contract the contract
the Works the works

 

(conversions from Architect, Employer, Supervising Officer, Supervising Officer's Representative, Surveyor and Contractor added, 8/8/2022)

 

A global search and replace action may cause errors with these terms

Terms which are used both as identified terms and defined terms

  • activity schedule vs Activity Schedule
  • bill of quantities vs Bill of Quantities
  • completion date vs Completion Date
  • key date vs Key Date
  • named suppliers vs Named Suppliers
  • Dispute Avoidance Board Nominating Body vs Dispute Avoidance Board
  • people rates vs People Rates
  • working areas vs Working Areas

Previous terms which may mix up with or form part of other expressions

  • Architect as in Architectural Services Department
  • Contractor as in Sub-contractor
  • condition
  • cost
  • section
  • Surveyor
  • tribunal
  • works
  • (Adding "the " before the word or a space at the end may help in some cases.)

(added, 8/8/2022)

Identified terms which may mix up with or form part of other expressions

  • (when changing to italics)
  • contract
  • Contractor
  • condition
  • section 
  • tribunal
  • works

(note in brackets and Contractor added, 8/8/2022)

Defined terms which may mix up with or form part of other expressions

  • (when capitalising the first letter)
  • Authorisation
  • Budget
  • Completion
  • Defect
  • Defects
  • Equipment
  • Fee
  • Materials
  • Others
  • Parties
  • Plant
  • Prices
  • Scope
  • Site
  • Supplier

(note in brackets added, 8/8/2022)

End of Page