Brief facts of the case
According to the applicant:
In October 2013, the applicant architectural design company and the respondent real estate company signed a Construction Engineering Design Contract for a project, which clearly stipulated the design scope, project name, contract amount and other related issues. After the contract was signed, the respondent real estate company increased the design scope, and the applicant carried out the preliminary design of the construction drawings in accordance with the requirements of the respondent.
In October 2016, the two parties signed the "Construction Engineering Design Contract" through the QQ platform, adjusting the total amount of the design fee, and the contract stipulated that if the respondent real estate company failed to pay the design fee at the time agreed in the contract, it should bear the liquidated damages of 2‰ of the unpaid amount for each day of overdue payment. At the same time, the contract stipulates other rights and obligations of both parties, and expressly stipulates that in case of disputes, Lanzhou Arbitration Commission will arbitrate.
The applicant, an architectural design company, argued that all the design, filing and delivery of the preliminary construction drawings had been completed, and that the respondent's real estate company had failed to perform its payment obligations as agreed in the contract, which constituted a material breach of contract. After the dispute occurred, the applicant, an architectural design company, repeatedly failed to make demands, and then submitted to the Lanzhou Arbitration Commission for arbitration according to the arbitration clause agreed in the online signing contract, and put forward the following arbitration request: requesting that the "Construction Engineering Design Contract" signed by the two parties in October 2016 be legally valid in accordance with the law.
The respondent argued that:
The respondent, a real estate company, argued that the two parties had only signed a Construction Engineering Design Contract in October 2013, which had been effectively terminated at the end of 2015. In addition, the two parties did not sign the Construction Engineering Design Contract through the QQ network platform in October 2016, so the applicant, an architectural design company, did not have the conditions to claim the design payment.
The focus of the controversy
Is the "Construction Engineering Design Contract" signed online by the two parties in October 2016 legal and valid?
Verdict
In accordance with the law, it was determined that the "Construction Engineering Design Contract Dispute" signed online by the applicant, an architectural design company and the respondent, a real estate company in 2016, was legal and valid.
Arbitration Garden Intention
After the hearing, the arbitral tribunal held that Zhang, as the person in charge of the project design management department of the respondent real estate company, explained the process and facts of signing the Construction Engineering Design Contract in X 2016. At the same time, Shi served as an HVAC engineer in the design department, and also elaborated on the process of signing the "Construction Engineering Design Contract" in X 2016.
After the parties presented evidence in court, the arbitral tribunal ascertained that the contract was signed by Nan, the design department of the respondent real estate company, and Peng and Wang, staff members of the applicant's architectural design company, through the QQ network platform, and reported at the regular meeting of the company's design department, and the contract really existed. In addition, the "Feedback Form for the Registration and Filing of Information of Survey and Design Units Outside the Province" provided by the applicant, an architectural design company, shows that the time of signing the "Construction Engineering Design Contract", the design unit, the construction unit, the project name and the project involved in the case recorded in the feedback form are completely consistent with the statement of the applicant's architectural design company, and the respondent's real estate company also expressed its approval of the authenticity of the feedback form. Therefore, the arbitral tribunal found that the Construction Engineering Design Contract signed by the parties through the QQ online platform in X 2016 was legal and valid, and there was no problem of forgery and alteration.
Lan Zhong reminded
With the continuous development of network modernization, as an efficient, convenient and environmentally friendly new way of signing contracts, online signing contracts are more and more used in all walks of life, but with the popularization of online signing contracts, problems arising from the effectiveness and performance of online contracts frequently occur. Construction engineering design is an important and complex task, and the signing of the contract is related to the smooth progress of the project and the interests of all parties.
The online signing of the contract has obvious convenience, but the authenticity of the online contract and the performance of the contract put forward higher requirements for the implementation of the project, the protection of rights, and the performance of obligations. When signing a contract online, both parties to the contract should pay attention to clearly agreeing on the scope of the contract, quality standards, schedule, liability for breach of contract, contract price and payment method, dispute resolution method, etc., and should also pay attention to retaining relevant information and evidence in the process of online signing.
Contributed by Wang Yonghong
Editor-in-charge: Zhang Shuqian
Editor: Han Xiaowen
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