Author: William R. Spiegelberger*
Published: July 2015
| Jurisdiction: Russia Ukraine Europe |
Topics: Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Grounds for Refusal of Enforcement |
Description:
I. OVERVIEW
In 2014 the Russian courts entertained a typical number of applications for enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in comparison to recent years (49 versus an average for the previous four years of 48.8 annually), and enforced the awards at about the same rate, 92%, versus a rolling average rate over the same period of 95%:
Table 1: Historical Enforcement Rates
| Year | Total Awards | Awards Enforced | Enforcement Rate by Year (%) | Rolling Average Enforcement Rate (%) |
| 2010 | 32 | 30 | 94 | 94 |
| 2011 | 54 | 52 | 96 | 95 |
| 2012 | 62 | 59 | 95 | 95 |
| 2013 | 47 | 44 | 94 | 95 |
| 2014 | 49 | 45 | 92 | 94 |
| Total | 244 | 230 | 94 | 94 |
As for the origin of the awards, 2014 was notable for the rarity of enforcement proceedings relating to awards from what in Russia is generally called “the West.” Two ad hoc awards rendered in London were enforced in 2014,3 but no award from the International Court of Arbitration in Paris (“ICC”), the London Court of International Arbitration (“LCIA”), the London Maritime Arbitration Association (“LMAA”), or any other of the better-known “western” arbitration institutions:
Table 2: Awards by Origin
| Origin of Award | Total Cases | Proportion of Total (%) | Awards Enforced | Enforcement Rate (%) |
| Ukraine | 22 | 45 | 19 | 86 |
| Belarus | 14 | 29 | 14 | 100 |
| Moldova | 3 | 6 | 3 | 100 |
| Ad hoc | 3 | 6 | 3 | 100 |
| Latvia | 3 | 6 | 3 | 100 |
| Kazakhstan | 2 | 4 | 2 | 100 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Serbia | 1 | 2 | 1 | 100 |
| Total | 49 | 100 | 45 | 92 |
*William R. Spiegelberger is Director of the International Practice Department at Rusal Global Management B.V. in Moscow (since 2007), where he manages, among other things, the corporate group’s major litigations and arbitrations outside the CIS states. He holds a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School and is a member of the National Advisory Council of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University in New York and the Supervisory Board of Strabag SE, the Austrian construction company.