The Russian Supreme Commercial Court has held that disputes arising out of investment agreements with Russian authorities are not arbitrable at least for the purposes of domestic arbitration. The court upheld the decisions of the lower courts refusing the enforcement of a domestic arbitral award in a dispute between a private investor and a Russian […]
Can an essentially domestic dispute be referred to an international arbitral tribunal sitting outside of the Russian Federation? Can an “international” dispute be resolved by a domestic arbitral tribunal? These questions may be troubling for a practitioner drafting an arbitration clause in a contract. This is especially true because figuring out whether the dispute is […]
The Moscow International Financial Centre (the “MIFC”) initiative has selected Alternative Dispute Resolution in Russia as one of its key themes. In June 2012 the ADR Workstream of the UK-Russia Liaison Group on Moscow as an International Financial Centre prepared its Final Report (the “Report”) concerning ways in which to improve ADR mechanisms in Russia. The […]
On 21 June 2012, the Association for International Arbitration (AIA) together with the Brussels Institute for Contemporary China Studies (BICCS) organised a conference on “Arbitration in CIS countries: current issues”. It was held at the Karel Van Miert Building of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The media partners of the conference included the CIS Arbitration Forum […]
The CIS Arbitration Forum recently reported on a decision of the Moscow Circuit Commercial Court to enforce a judgment of the English High Court on the basis of reciprocity. We noted then that there was a growing trend of recognition of foreign court judgments on the basis of reciprocity (i.e. in the absence of a bilateral treaty). […]
The Russian courts have sent a state establishment and several state agencies to arbitration to have their claim for termination of a contract with a German contractor resolved pursuant to the agreed dispute resolution procedure (case reference No. А40-106514/2011). The claimants argued in both the Moscow Commercial Court and the Ninth Appellate Commercial Court that […]
Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Russia remains a grey area, because according to the Arbitrazh Procedure Code foreign judgments may be enforced on the basis of a federal law or an international treaty. There is no generally applicable law providing for the enforcement of foreign judgments and there are few international treaties (particularly […]
Up until now optional arbitration clauses have come before Russian commercial courts only indirectly, in cases where lenders have chosen to exercise their option to bring claims before Russian state courts. In a line of cases decided by the Moscow Circuit Commercial Court the validity of such an option was upheld and it was held […]
The Association for International Arbitration, the CIS Arbitration Forum and a number of co-sponsors are hosting an arbitration conference in Brussels on 21 June 2012. Speakers from various CIS jurisdictions will discuss a range of issues related to arbitration in the region. The topics include the policy of CIS countries towards arbitration, bribery, Russia-related arbitration […]
Arbitration clauses are usually treated as one of the boilerplate terms of commercial contracts. They are frequently formulated off the top of one’s head and though major arbitration centres recommend standard clauses they are not always used. In a decision rendered on 13 March 2012 the Moscow Circuit Commercial Court confirmed the lower court’s decision […]
A recent case handed down by the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation (the “SCC”) marks a further step by it towards the favouring of arbitration in Russia. The SCC confirmed that notifying a branch of the opposing party in arbitral proceedings is sufficient for the purposes of satisfying the due notice requirement. Also, […]
At the end of December 2011 a number of aspects concerning the functioning of the Maritime Arbitration Commission at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (MAC) changed. In particular, a new list of MAC arbitrators was approved and the MAC Rules were amended. In addition, the procedure for the election of […]
It seems that in at least one respect Russian courts are now more arbitration-friendly than courts in many other countries. In a string of cases decided during 2011 the Supreme Commercial Court held that enforcement of an arbitral award may not be refused on the basis of a tribunal’s lack of jurisdiction if the award was […]
On 3 November a Russian court of appeal set aside the 2-year suspension order of arbitral award enforcement granted because of financial difficulties of the debtor. The history of arbitration is as follows. English company Borregaard Industries Ltd operating in Norway successfully applied to the Commercial Court of Saint-Petersburg and Region to enforce an arbitral […]
This summer an UNCITRAL tribunal sitting in Stockholm held that it had no jurisdiction over a case submitted by Italian company Cesare Galdabini under Italy-Russian Federation BIT. According to media reports the claim arose out Russian Federation refusal to settle a debt owed for EUR 278’000 worth of equipment, which Galdabini supplied in the end […]
It happens that even if arbitral awards were set aside in jurisdiction where they were rendered they are still enforced in other jurisdictions. The Pakistan v. Dallah case where French court refused to set aside an award which the UK Supreme Court rendered unenforceable. In Hilmarton and Putrabali cases French courts recognized and enforced an arbitral […]
An interesting case is due to be considered by the Russian Supreme Commercial Court within the next few months. Two issues before the court are: (1) whether an arbitral tribunal may fine a party to the arbitration for failure to comply with the tribunal’s order and (2) whether the procedural guarantees that are accorded to […]
Today, it seems, an epic story of enforcement of an SCC award in Russia came to an end. After almost three years of litigation in Russia and Sweden, the Presidium of Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation ruled that the award should be enforced. During the same session Presidium dismissed action seeking to invalidate […]
On 1 July 2011 the Supreme Court of Sweden refused sovereign immunity protection to the trade mission of the Russian Federation. The decision opens a new page in a long battle between the Russian Federation and a German investor Franz Sedelmayer who won in arbitration against Russia in 1998. In early 1990s, Franz Sedelmayer, a […]
Domestic arbitration institutions established by various commercial entities have become widespread in the Russian Federation. Their existence and perceived lack of impartiality have long been criticized by many. They were also presented as an example of why arbitration should not be used to resolve private disputes. The situation is particularly problematic where the rules of […]
The case illustrates a pro-arbitration approach of the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as “SCC”) in their interpretation of arbitration clauses. OJSC “Kuznetskbusinessbank” (hereinafter referred to as “the Bank”) applied to the Arbitrazh Court of Saint-Petersburg and Leningradskaya Region for a writ of execution to enforce an award to recover […]
Power of attorney authorizing the representative to sign a commercial contract is sufficient for such representative to sign a contract containing an arbitration clause. In a recently published decision the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation confirmed that the provision of Article 62 of the Arbitrazh Procedure Code requiring that for […]
The Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation (“the SCC”) demonstrated over the last years a general trend of SCC to interpret law in a pro-arbitration light so that to avoid formalistic and unwisely restrictive approach to applying the law. Below is just one example of such pro-arbitral approach of SCC. This case also illustrates […]
On 12 April 2011 the British Consulate General in Ekaterinburg and the British-Russian Law Association conduct a seminar “Application of English Law in Russia: Shareholder Rights (and related issues)”. According to the organizers, shareholder agreements have a significant impact in Russia. Under Russian corporate law a number of imperative norms exist which cannot be changed […]
The Presidium of the Russian Supreme Commercial (arbitrazh) Court filed a request in the Constitutional Court to evaluate the constitutionality of a several provisions of the Russian Law “On International Commercial Arbitration” and the Federal Law “On Arbitration Tribunals in the Russian Federation”. In particular, provisions of these laws related to arbitrability of disputes related […]
The International Court of Justice is currently considering the first ever case in which Russia is a party. The dispute was initiated by Georgia which alleged violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Georgia argues that, since 1990 Russia directly and through its controlled entities of Abkhazia and […]
The new Russian Law on Mediation which entered into force in January 2011 imposes special requirements on those who want to become professional mediators. In order to become a professional mediator apart from having a university degree, it is necessary to pass a special mediation training according to a program approved as established by the […]
In January 2011 the very first settlement agreement reached by means of mediation in accordance with the new Federal Law on Mediation having which became effective on January 1, 2011. The preliminary court hearing in proceedings chaired by judge Sorokina of the Arbitrazh Court of the Omsk region was broadcast via videoconferencing system from the Russian Supreme […]
The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation has recently proposed amendments to the Federal Law “On International Commercial Arbitration”. The amendments reflect more than fifteen years of application of that Law. They also reflect the 2006 amendments to the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration which was the basis for the Russian […]
The arbitral tribunal may consider evidence in any language even if the parties agreed upon a particular language of the arbitration, the Russian Constitutional Court confirmed. Russian parties trying to enforce arbitral awards sometimes apply to the Russian Constitutional Court to clarify the meaning of the Federal Law “On International Commercial Arbitration”.This law almost completely […]
A set of rules aimed at regulating mediation in the Russian Federation is due to enter into force on 1 January 2011. It includes Federal Law On Alternative Procedure of Dispute Settlement with Participation of Mediator (Mediation Procedure) and a separate set of amendments to the Russian procedural laws designed to incorporate mediation into the […]
When former Yukos shareholders promised a “life-long litigation” for their assets, very few took it seriously. After all, until recently there have been no precedents of successful enforcement of arbitration awards against the Russian Federation. But this perception has been changing over the last last few months, with Yukos shareholders advancing on at least three […]
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