Arbitration courts are left without public contracts

The Ministry of Justice has presented the improved draft law on arbitration courts (ACs). 

The Ministry of Justice has presented the improved draft law on arbitration courts (ACs). These now may be established under non-commercial organizations (NCOs) as well as under exchanges. The expert council that approves their creation cannot be dominated by public servants, but the requirements for such approval become stricter – the reputation of the founders and the professional authority of the arbitrators will be taken into consideration. Besides, the disputes on public contracts are excluded from the jurisdiction of the arbitration, as the Higher Court of Arbitration (HCA) insisted.

Advocate Alexander Bolomatov, Partner of the Law Firm "YUST", supports the amendments: “This is correct, because public officials cannot be impartial, they must act in the public interest”.

However, even though liberalization is seemingly underway, new requirements are introduced, on the basis of which the expert council may refuse to issue the approval. Such requirements include the reputation of the AC members and the list of recommended arbitrators, who also need to possess a “high professional authority”.