Rada expands competence of international arbitration
The Verkhovna Rada approved in the second reading and as a whole bill No. 15197 on international commercial arbitration regarding the expansion of international arbitration competence.
During a plenary session on Tuesday, April 28, 291 MPs supported the decision, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reports.
According to the explanatory note on the Rada website, the law provides that disputes from contractual and other civil law relations arising during foreign trade and other types of international economic ties may be referred to international commercial arbitration not only if the commercial enterprise of at least one of the parties is located abroad. Disputes may also be referred if the parties explicitly agreed that the subject of the arbitration agreement relates to more than one country, or if one of the following places is located outside the state in which the parties have their commercial enterprises: the place of arbitration determined in the arbitration agreement; any place where a significant part of the obligations arising from contractual or other civil law relations is to be performed; or the place with which the subject of the dispute is most closely connected.
The law also stipulates that the competence of international commercial arbitration includes disputes involving an investor and the state (its bodies and institutions) or an intergovernmental organization in connection with investment activities in Ukraine or another state, arising on the basis of an international treaty, Ukrainian law, another normative act, or a party agreement contained in a contract or other document.
Similar changes are proposed for the regulations on the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The law brings Ukraine closer to global standards for dispute resolution (UNCITRAL) and allows Ukrainian arbitration institutions to consider investment disputes between foreign businesses and the state.
The adoption of the bill is expected to develop Ukraine as an attractive jurisdiction for resolving international commercial and investment disputes, improve its international image, reduce state budget expenditures on defending Ukraine’s interests in disputes involving foreign investors, and promote the legal services market and investment inflow.
