One may compare arbitration with a car: it may be luxurious or modest, but to run it you always need four properly functioning wheels: arbitral institutions, parties, arbitrators and state courts. Tetiana Slipachuk, managing partner of Sayenko Kharenko law firm, reminded us of this while moderating the first arbitration section of the first Eastern European […]
The Republic of Moldova is a party to numerous multilateral investment treaties including the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT“) and the ICSID Convention, which came into force for Moldova on 4 June 2011. Moldova has also signed bilateral investment treaties (“BITs“) with 43 countries. This article presents a short overview of known investor-state cases brought against Moldova. Cases initiated by Yuri Bogdanov Russian citizen […]
The slowly developing Russia-Ukraine $3 billion sovereign debt dispute got a sudden new development when, at the end of July 2016, Russia requested the London High Court make an expedited ruling on the dispute. Following that, on 8 September 2016, the High Court scheduled the hearings for the dispute for 17-20 January 2017. The debt The history of this […]
The arbitral tribunal in Oxus Gold Plc v The Republic of Uzbekistan in the final award that became publicly available in April 2016 rejected all counterclaims raised by the host state against the British investor. The award, rendered by Prof Pierre Tercier, Prof Brigitte Stern and Hon Marc Lalonde (issuing partial dissent on another legal issue) […]
Two recent Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (“SCC“) emergency arbitration awards in investment arbitrations against the Republic of Moldova, with different conclusions based on a similar factual and legal background, inject uncertainty regarding the interpretation of conditions for granting interim relief in investment arbitration, while reaffirming positions on certain long-debated issues. Practical implications The messages to […]
On 18 July 2016 the Commercial Court of Moscow region refused to confirm the settlement agreement between PAO Vimpel-Communications and PAO Tizpribor in the year-long dispute between the two companies. The outcome of this case may have significant consequences both for Russian real estate, says The Property Sourcing Company, in particular for the use of […]
Applications for interim relief have become a frequently used procedural tool among foreign investors arbitrating against CIS states. Emergency arbitration proceedings under the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) Arbitration Rules are particularly in demand: at least four applications for interim reliefs against CIS states have been filed since 2014 (TSIKInvest v Republic of Moldova; JKX Oil & […]
While the spotlight of the CIS arbitration community is currently focused on investment disputes between Ukrainian claimants and the Russian Federation, moving to jurisdictional phase in mid-July 2016, other CIS states have also provided some noteworthy developments. This post highlights general trends identified in CIS-related Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS“) since 2015, and addresses certain cases that […]
More often than not, foreign investors reach some success in arbitration cases against Russia. However, obtaining ultimate remuneration for their efforts usually becomes a long and evasive target, because the award either gets annulled or faces insurmountable enforcement difficulties. Many international treaties of the Russian Federation including those concluded by the USSR as its legal predecessor include a “narrow” […]
On 8 March 2016, an ICSID Tribunal dismissed the claim of a Turkish investor against Turkmenistan finding that the alleged violation of the Turkey-Turkmenistan Bilateral treaty (“BIT”) was “entirely without merit.” The arbitral award appeared to be controversial and resulted in two dissenting opinions. İçkale İnşaat Limited Şirketi v. Turkmenistan (ICSID Case No. ARB/I0/24) is the first case […]
CIS Arbitration Forum continues its series of interviews with representatives of major international arbitration institutions working on disputes related to Russia and the CIS region. This month we interviewed Andrea Carlevaris who serves as Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and Director of Dispute Resolution Services of the ICC. Mr Carlevaris spoke […]
In an earlier post the CIS Arbitration Forum reported on three investment treaty claims which have been initiated this year against Ukraine in the gas sector. In one of them a UK-based energy company, JKX Oil & Gas, and its Dutch and Ukrainian subsidiaries, Poltava Gas B.V. and JV Poltava Petroleum Company, obtained the first ever emergency arbitration award against […]
In September 2015 the UNCITRAL Working Group II (Arbitration and Conciliation) continued its work on formulating a legal framework on the enforcement of settlement agreements, including a convention, model provisions or guidance texts. Currently, parties can request arbitral tribunals to record their settlement agreements as consent awards, ie an arbitral award on terms agreed upon by the […]
CIS Arbitration Forum continues its series of interviews with representatives of major international arbitration institutions involved in disputes related to Russia and the CIS region. The series proceeds with an interview with Jacomijn van Haersolte-van Hof, Director General of London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA). Dmitry Davydenko: Do you see any trends in the LCIA arbitration workload related to the CIS region? […]
Even though third party funding is increasingly common in international arbitration, the disclosure of funding arrangements is relatively rare and is required only in exceptional circumstances. Earlier this year in Muhammet Çap & Sehil Inşaat Endustri ve Ticaret Ltd. Sti v. Turkmenistan the ICSID tribunal issued an order to compel the parties to disclose third party funding arrangements. Brief […]
CIS Arbitration Forum continues its series of interviews with representatives of major international arbitration institutions working on disputes related to Russia and the CIS region. The idea is to provide updates from major arbitration institutions and their efforts to improve services rendered to arbitration users from the region. Today we publish an interview with Philipp Habegger, President of the […]
Recently investors vigorously but unsuccessfully tried to revive an arbitral award against the Kyrgyz Republic in the Russian courts. On 20 July 2015 the Arbitrazh Court of the Moscow Circuit rejected the cassation claim of companies Stans Energy Corp. and Kutisay Mining and upheld the ruling of the Arbitrazh Court of the first instance. The court upheld […]
CIS Arbitration Forum is starting a series of interviews with representatives of major international arbitration institutions working on disputes related to Russia and the CIS region. We hope the readers will appreciate updates from major arbitration institutions and their efforts to improve services rendered to arbitration users from the region. The series starts with an […]
Here is a short summary of the most important points of the Yukos arbitration award which former shareholders are now trying to enforce in Belgium, France and other European countries. Diana Bentley of Lexis Nexis interviewed Yaraslau Kryvoi. What was the dispute about? The tribunal, the Permanent Court for Arbitration, constituted under UNCITRAL Rules and based in […]
While the recent agreement between Yukos shareholders and Rosneft settles all litigation disputes between them, it does not solve the existing disputes between Yukos and Russia as a state, in particular the $50 billion arbitration award made by the PCA in The Hague in 2014. As Russia refuses to voluntarily comply with the award, Yukos […]
In January-May 2015 the Russian courts rendered several important decisions dealing with: the arbitrability of public procurement disputes; the effect of pre-existing links between an arbitral institution and a party to arbitration; partial annulment of arbitration awards; and anti-enforcement injunctions. Non-Arbitrability of Public Procurement Disputes Does Not Create Constitutional Issues Application of City Clinical Hospital No. […]
Since 2013 the Russian legislator is reforming arbitration laws of Russia. The reason for the reform was a the lack of consistency in Russian arbitration regulations, existence of so-called “pocket arbitration tribunals” and sham arbitration tribunals. The reform aims to facilitate the stability and transparency of the system. The first draft law on arbitration was introduced by Russian Ministry of […]
2014 was one of the most difficult years in the contemporary history of Ukraine in both political and economic terms. The country lived through the Revolution of Dignity in February, the annexation of Crimea in March, the ongoing military conflict in eastern Ukraine and deep financial and economic crisis. In order to counter these difficulties and to […]
The recent decision of the Russian Supreme Court in the case of Geotrest LLC v Gazprom Invest Vostok LLC and an earlier decision of the Constitutional Court indicate a significant change in the approach of Russian courts to the so-called “pocket arbitration courts”. These decisions contradict the previous practice and will most likely lead to significant […]
In January 2015 the Russian Supreme Court refused to enforce the Resolution of Paris Appellate Court No. RG 09/19535 dated 18 November 2010 on the collection of EUR 150,000 from the Government of Kaliningrad Region for the Republic of Lithuania. The case highlights the importance of a foreign judge giving reasons in a clear way in order for the decision to be […]
In January 2015 the Russian Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the lower courts which refused to enforce a SCC arbitration award due to public policy reasons. Prior to that the Swedish Svea Court of Appeal has reviewed the same case in the annulment proceedings and came to the opposite conclusion. The approaches of the Russian and […]
On 29 January 2015 Gazprom released a report on its activities and financial indicators for the nine months up to the end of last September. In this report Gazprom described the procedural details of the forthcoming “gas price” arbitration between Gazprom and Ukrainian Naftogaz, launched by the parties in summer 2014. This is not the first time […]
The preliminary programme of the Russian Arbitration Day — 2015 conference, aimed at the development of arbitration on post-Soviet territory, was published today. Experts will discuss the current trends and challenges in the field of international arbitration affecting the region. The list of speakers and reports is already on the conference website. This arbitration event will take place in […]
Unlike in the United Kingdom or the United States, international forum shopping is rarely at issue in Russian case law or legal doctrine. However, disputes related to forum shopping do arise in Russia: it happens that the same disputes fall within the jurisdiction of national courts of several states, e.g. the national court of the […]
Arbitral tribunals in Moscow interpreted surprisingly broadly the dispute resolution provision in an investment treaty, allowing the investors to apply at unlimited number of fora at their choice. However, the Minsk-based CIS Economic Court in its decision on 23 September clarified that such provision establishes only a potential possibility of investor-state dispute resolution by international arbitration provided that the […]
This overview looks at the most important cases decided by the Russian courts which relate to arbitration. 1. Public Procurement Disputes Not Arbitrable State Establishment Proizvodstenno-Tekhnicheskoe Ob’edinenie Kapitalnogo Remonta i Stroitelstva … v. LLC Arbatstroy (Case No. A40-148581/12, Presidium of the Supreme Commercial Court, Resolution No. 11535/13 dated 28 January 2014 (published in June 2014) The […]
Controversies have surrounded the purchase of French Mistral helicopter carriers by Russia since the very beginning. In 2010, after eight months of talks, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved the purchase of two ships of the Mistral class from France for €1.37 billion. The deal was concluded despite objections from some of France’s allies in NATO. […]
In a recent decision the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation found that a notice of arbitration proceedings to the parent company’s general counsel was proper in the context of the facts of the case. The decision has also raised discussions about other related issues: first, in which cases could such notice be improper and […]
Recent judgments of the Ukrainian courts have again attracted attention to the issue of arbitrability, which remains under debate both in theory and in practice in Ukraine. This time court practice deals with disputes arising out of the so-called “commercial contracts related to satisfaction of the state’s needs” (“Public Procurement Contracts”). The judgments discussed in […]
The Eurasian Economic Community (“EurAsEC”) was founded in 2000 by Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. EurAsEC is an international organisation established to promote the process of the effective formation of the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space, as well as of other goals and objectives related to the deepening of integration in the […]
On 28 July 2014 a historic award in Yukos v. The Russian Federation rendered by the arbitral tribunal seated in The Hague finally became publicly available. The tribunal ordered Russia to pay more than 50 billion US$ for its expropriation of Yukos, making this award the biggest one in the history of international arbitration. Considering the circumstances, […]
Foreign and Russian legal practitioners quite often note the absence of legal enforceability of “warranties” as a shortcoming of the Russian legal system. Meanwhile, the situation is changing as, on 10 July 2014, the Ninth Commercial Appellate Court confirmed the judgment of the Moscow Commercial Court acknowledging the legal force of “contractual warranties” and the duty of parties to […]
Recent Russian commercial court judgments illustrate a new trend in the interpretation of framework supply agreements (“FSA”). The newly developed approach is supposed to become more sensitive to good faith, party willingness and intentions and factual and legal discourse. In Taganrog Automobile Plant v Hyundai Motor Company (case № 15AP-8173/2014) the courts implemented the Russian Supreme Commercial […]
As we reported earlier the Supreme Commercial Court has ruled that arbitral tribunals cannot resolve disputes arising out of government contracts. The court quashed the decisions of lower courts granting enforcement of a domestic arbitration award in a dispute between a government agency and a company. The full text of the court’s resolution has been recently published. Over sixteen […]
The international conference Russian Arbitration Day took place on 29 May in Moscow. The event focused on key issues concerning the development of international commercial arbitration on Post-Soviet territory. It was the second such conference held by the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. A number […]
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