Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Ordinance gazetted on 5 December 2014

In our February 2013 newsletter, we reported that the Department of Justice had released a draft Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Bill 2013, for consultation. That Bill has since been passed and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Ordinance was gazetted on 5 December 2014 and will come into effect on a date to be appointed by the Secretary for Justice.

The terms of the Ordinance are the same as those stated in our previous newsletter, except that two further categories of contract have been added to the list of contracts to which the Ordinance will NOT apply, namely deeds of mutual covenant and covenants relating to land.

As stated in our previous newsletter, companies should carefully review their contracts and expressly exclude the statutory provisions where they wish to do so.