Concepts of development of the private arbitration courts in Russia. Will they be classified as NGOs?

Last week, the State Duma Committee of civil, criminal, arbitration and procedural legislation held a round table dedicated to the concept of development of the private arbitration courts in Russia. Representatives of the Legislative, the Ministry of Justice, the judges’ and advocates’ community took part in the event. Partner, Advocate Alexander Bolomatov represented the Law Firm "YUST".

According to Rafael Mardanshin, a member of said Committee, private arbitration is an efficient way to settle disputes. However, in practice, the trust in it gradually goes down – which the data supplied by the ARCPOS confirms. The expert says: “The private arbitration courts incur no liability for breaches of proceedings, and this is the main problem”. This is the cause for the situation, when Russian businessmen settle their disputes outside of the Russian jurisdiction – in the courts of Paris or London.

Two draft laws on amendments to the private arbitration law are currently being considered by the Committee of civil, criminal, arbitration and procedural legislation. Rafael Mardanshin said: “The current private arbitration law is imperfect, and it is thus necessary to make a number of amendments to the law or perhaps to introduce an altogether new draft private arbitration law”.

Vladimir Pligin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on constitutional legislation and the construction of State, pointed out that “the State Duma has already discussed the private arbitration matter. It was done in a half-closed regime two or three years ago. The deputies understood the necessity to develop the private arbitration institution even back then”.

Alexey Kravtsov, Chairman of the Private Court of Arbitration of Moscow, informed that private arbitration courts should be independent legal entities. He added: “The suggestion by the Ministry of Justice to create private arbitration courts in the form of non-commercial organizations may lead to such courts’ dependence on their founders”. The expert is convinced that the extraction of profits if a crucial aspect for the functioning of the private arbitration courts as separate legal entities.

The participants of the event elaborated a number of recommendations that will be sent to the Committee of civil, criminal, arbitration and procedural legislation and used in the work of amending the private arbitration law.

See also:

The reform of private arbitration courts faces an influential opponent within the State Duma//Pravo.RU

Private arbitration courts in Russia // Blog of Rafael Mardanshin

"The main objective is to prevent fraudsters from penetrating into the system" // «Kommersant Power» magazine

Private arbitration is useful // Rossiyskaya Gazeta