On 5 March 2009 the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law "On Bringing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts as regards Activity of the Domestic Arbitration Tribunals and Enforcement of the Awards Rendered". The Law is effective since 31 March.
The key provisions of the above mentioned Law are as follows:
- The domestic arbitration tribunals are prohibited from resolving the following disputes:
(a) regarding real estate and land plots;
(b) concerning establishment of legal facts;
(c) labor disputes;
(d) corporate disputes; and
(e) in the event that an arbitration award when rendered will not be enforced without the respective actions of the governmental or local authorities.
- Parties to the arbitration agreement are free to choose place of arbitration only in the event that the dispute shall be resolved by ad hoc arbitration tribunal. Otherwise, the place of arbitration shall be considered to be the place, where the respective arbitration institution is located.
- Facts, established by an arbitration award, do not constitute court evidences and must be re-proved before courts.
- Third parties, involved in arbitration proceedings, are entitled to challenge an arbitration award before courts.
Persons, who were not engaged in the proceeding, may challenge an arbitration award in the event that the arbitration tribunal decided upon their rights and obligations.
The respective amendments are aimed at limiting jurisdiction of the domestic arbitration tribunals. Moreover, they are to protect companies from illegal raider attacks and fabricated arbitration proceedings.
Moreover, it is noteworthy that some fundamental amendments were introduced to the Law of Ukraine "On Enforcement Proceedings," i.e. the amended law states that an enforcement order of the court may be issued only for domestic awards, awards of the International Commercial Arbitration Court of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Maritime Arbitration Commission of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Such wording might potentially put into risk enforcement of foreign arbitration awards in Ukraine. However, opinions of arbitration practitioners vary with respect to this issue.
Law: Law of Ukraine "On Bringing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts as regards Activity of the Domestic Arbitration Tribunals and Enforcement of the Awards Rendered", No. 1076-VI as of 5 March 2009
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The original publication date for this article was 17/04/2009.