The International Commercial Arbitration Court and the Maritime Arbitration Commission at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry held the General Meeting of Arbitrators

On 13 February 2019 the International Commercial Arbitration Court (the ICAC) and the Maritime Arbitration Commission (the UMAC) at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry held the General Meeting of Arbitrators, attended by 35 arbitrators from Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa and Khmelnytskyi.

Mykola Selivon, President of the ICAC and the UMAC, informed about the results of the activity of the arbitration institutions in 2018 and the status of the decisions made during the previous General Meeting of Arbitrators. In addition, the prospective tasks for the arbitrators and the Secretariat were identified. President of the ICAC and the UMAC noted that “the stagnation of the world foreign trade, well-known external and internal challenges affected the activity of the ICAC, in particular, the number of cases registered in 2018. On the other hand, the arbitrators and the Secretariat of the ICAC significantly improved the quality of their functions and consistently adhered to the provisions of the new Rules of the ICAC. In addition, 2018 was a year of unprecedented work of promoting the new arbitration legislation, the new Rules of the ICAC and Ukrainian arbitration in general”. A strategic goal considered by Mykola Selivon is the enhancing of the authority of the ICAC and the UMAC among local and international businesses, and legal environment as the institutions capable to consider disputes of any complexity and type objectively and impartially. There are all legal, material, organizational and personnel prerequisites for this. President of the ICAC and the UMAC urged arbitrators to participate actively in developing the agenda of the VI International Arbitration Readings in memory of Academician Igor Pobirchenko to hold the event at the traditionally high level as well as to take part in the ICAC and the UMAC events in 2019.

Zoia Lytvynenko, Secretary General of the ICAC, made a report on the analysis of the application of provisions of the new Rules of the ICAC during the arbitration process, in particular, articles 37 “Verification of Progress in Preparation of the Case Materials for the Arbitral Proceedings”, 40 “Language (Languages) of the Arbitral Proceedings”, 47 “Oral Hearing”, 50 “Recording of an Oral Hearing Case”, 52 “Evidence”, and part seven of article 60 on verification of the draft of the arbitral award. She told that 102 cases were considered under the new Rules of the ICAC, and, although the procedure of verification of the arbitral award was new to the arbitrators, it helped to not receive a single request in the past year to correct the mistakes made in the arbitral awards.

The Secretary General also highlighted “the importance of increasing the motivation of holding the meetings stipulated by the Rules of ICAC, since the pre-clarified issues and procedural time schedule of the oral hearings provide an opportunity to consider the case without adjournment of the arbitral proceedings, speed up the consideration of the case and make the arbitral proceedings as efficient as possible”.

The arbitrators were involved in the discussion on creating a development strategy of arbitration institutes and events aimed at promotion of the international commercial arbitration in Ukraine. According to the results of the discussion, it was decided to:

continue to conduct a series of the ICAC and the UMAC presentations in the regions with the involvement of regional CCIs and local law firms;
start cooperation with industry associations in order to hold events on their basis, aimed at promoting international commercial arbitration as an effective way to resolve disputes and at familiarizing with the specifics of the ICAC and the UMAC activities;
continue negotiations with the Export Promotion Office, advisory body at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, the National School of Judges of Ukraine regarding the establishment of the “International Commercial Arbitration” cluster under their educational programs as well as with Kyiv Regional Center of the National Academy of Law Sciences of Ukraine regarding the development of joint research projects, scientific conferences and round tables on international commercial arbitration.