FIDIC glossary · Documents
Performance Certificate
Performance Certificate
In short
Issued after defects are remedied and the DNP ends; signifies that the Contractor’s obligations are fulfilled.
What is a Performance Certificate?
The Performance Certificate is issued by the Engineer once the Defects Notification Period has expired and all outstanding remedial work is complete. It is the document that finally discharges the Contractor's obligations to perform the Contract.
The point to grasp: obligations do not end when the DNP calendar period runs out — they end when this certificate is issued. Until then the Contractor remains bound, even if the period has formally elapsed.
Issuing it triggers several consequences. The Employer must return the Performance Security within 21 days — a deadline that is routinely missed and worth chasing in writing. The final account process begins: the Contractor submits the Final Statement and the parties close out the financial side.
What the Performance Certificate does **not** do: it does not release the Contractor from liability for latent defects, and it does not end obligations that by their nature survive completion — confidentiality, specific warranties, liability for gross negligence. Sub-Clause 11.10 says so expressly.
Do not confuse it with the Taking-Over Certificate, which is issued at the start of the DNP and marks acceptance of the Works. This one comes at the end and marks performance of the Contract.
Where it sits in the contract
Related terms
Need this read against your own contract?
This explains how the mechanism works in the standard form. How it works in your contract, after the Particular Conditions, is a separate question.
Talk to an expert →A reference explanation of the FIDIC standard conditions. Not legal advice, and not a reproduction of the FIDIC books.