History of International Commercial Arbitration and its Related System in Russia

Abstract

Since the Law on International Commercial Arbitration was established on 7 July 1993 (‘1993 Law on the ICA’), several permanent arbitration courts which may deal with international commercial arbitration have been established and seem to be functioning well to settle international commercial disputes in Russia. All the permanent arbitral institutions for international commercial arbitration in Russia and the former USSR fell into the category of the treteiskii court. The history of the treteiskii court can be traced back to the fourteenth century. In this article, the history of international commercial arbitration and its related system in Russia will be explained chronologically, especially from the time of the Soviet regime to the contemporary period. The framework of the development of treteiskii courts also illustrates the recent rearrangement of jurisdiction relating to international commercial arbitration between the ordinary courts and the arbitrazh court. Currently, the issues relating to international commercial arbitration under articles 16–3 and 34–2 of the 1993 Law on the ICA are governed by ordinary courts; however, the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards are realised by arbitrazh courts in the Russian Federation. On the other hand, issues relating to domestic arbitration under the 2002 Statute on the Treteiskii Court are governed by arbitrazh courts or ordinary courts according to the kinds of disputes.