Practical Law has published an article by Maxim Kulkov and Alexandra Chilikova
Practical Law has published an article, Moscow Commercial Court denies recognition and enforcement of an SCC award, authored by Maxim Kulkov and Alexandra Chilikova.
On 16 March 2017, the Moscow Commercial Court denied recognition and enforcement of an Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) arbitral award issued in proceedings between an Italian company and an indirectly state-owned Russian company. It found that enforcement of the award:
- Would be contrary to public policy because it would affect the proper functioning of a state-owned power plant.
- Breached the arbitration agreement because it was rendered by only two arbitrators instead of the full panel of three.
The approach taken by the court in assessing a breach of public policy in this case appears to be rather archaic and does not reflect the general practice of the Russian courts. Also, the analysis of the procedural issues in this case appears debatable and may be subject to further discussion at the cassation stage.