United States: International Arbitration In Central And Eastern Europe: An Overview And Key Developments

In 2015, the legal and business communities witnessed a progression towards local pro-arbitration laws in a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe.  Russia adopted a new law "On Arbitration (Arbitral Proceedings) in the Russian Federation" (the "New Law") and amended a number of other arbitration-related laws on 31 December 2015 that will enter into force on 1 September 2016.¹  The New Law entirely replaces the current rules on domestic arbitration and amends the regulations related to international commercial arbitration.²  The reasons for the reform include, in particular, the previous lack of consistency in Russian arbitration regulations, the existence of so-called "pocket arbitration tribunals", and the presence of sham arbitration institutions.  The reform thus aims to promote the stability and transparency of the arbitration system.³ 

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Footnotes

1. Under the arbitration reform, the Federal Law No. 382-FZ "On Arbitration (Arbitral Proceedings) in the Russian Federation" (available in Russian at: http://www.rg.ru/2015/12/31/arbitrazh-dok.html) will replace the Law "On Arbitral Tribunals in Russia."  In addition, the Federal Law No. 409-FZ, adopted on the same day, will change other related laws, including the Law "On International Commercial Arbitration" (the "ICA Law"), the Code of Civil Procedure (the "CCP"), the Code of Arbitrazh [Commercial] Procedure (the "CAP"), and the Law "On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)."  The calls to modernise the ICA Law began shortly after the revision of the UNCITRAL Model Law in 2006, but the bill to update the national law in line with the revised UNCITRAL Model Law remained pending before Parliament for several years without making progress.

2. M. Yaremenko, I. Prusskaya, Russian arbitration reform: what will happen after 1 September 2016, available online at: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=524ccfe5-82db-44a1-8ba0-cb6b4cea0f27

3. Dmitry Davydenko, New Draft Law Aims to Bring Arbitration in Russia to Order, CIS Arbitration Forum, 28 May 2015, available online at: http://www.cisarbitration.com/2015/05/28/new-draft-law-aims-to-bring-arbitration-in-russia-to-order/

Originally published by ICLG - 29 July 2016

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