Frequently asked questions

1. What is the nature of the ICAC?

The International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (in abbreviated form - the ICAC at CCI of the RF) is a non-state body set up to resolve international economic disputes. The ICAC is a successor to the Foreign Trade Arbitration Commission at All-Union Chamber of Commerce established in 1932.

You can read more on the history of the ICAC in the section entitled “What is ICAC”.

The ICAC is an independent permanent court of arbitration. It acts on the basis of the Law of the Russian Federation “On International Commercial Arbitration”, enacted on July 7, 1993, and the Statute of the ICAC, appended to the Law as Annex 1, and the Rules of the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

The Federal Law “On International Commercial Arbitration” is a major legislative act regulating the order of resolving international commercial disputes in Russia. It has been drawn up on the basis of the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in 1985 and approved by the UN General Assembly. One must remember that the rules of the law of the Russian Federation (2002) entitled “On Courts of Arbitration in Russian Federation” do not apply to international courts of arbitration, including the consideration of disputes by the ICAC.

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2. What kind of disputes may be referred for consideration of the ICAC?

According to Sub-part. 2 of the Statute of the ICAC (see Annex 1 to the Law of the Russian Federation “On International Commercial Arbitration”)), Sub-para. 1 of § 2 of the Rules of the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, and pursuant to an agreement between the Parties, the following items may be referred to the ICAC:

Disputes arising out of contractual or other civil law relationships connected with foreign trade and other kinds of international business where the place of business of at least one of the parties is located abroad;
Disputes between enterprises with a foreign interest and international associations and organizations established in the territory of the Russian Federation or between members thereof, or disputes between them and other subjects of law of the Russian Federation.

The Statute of the ICAC and the Rules of the ICAC determine a list of Civil-law relationships, resulting in disputes that may be referred to the ICAC. This list is not exhaustive. In particular, it includes the relationships arising out of purchase and sale (delivery) of goods, performance of work, rendering of services, exchange of goods and/or services, carriage of goods and passengers, commercial representation and agency, rentals (leasing), scientific and technological exchange, exchange in other results of intellectual activity, construction of industrial and other objects, licensing, investment, crediting and settlements, insurance, joint business activity and other forms of industrial and business cooperation.

The ICAC accepts for its consideration the disputes subject to its jurisdiction by virtue of international agreements signed by the Russian Federation.

At the same time the Law of the Russian Federation “On International Commercial Arbitration” (hereinafter – Law on International Commercial Arbitration) does not affect the operation of any other law of the Russian Federation by virtue of which some disputes cannot be passed over for arbitration or they can be passed over for arbitration only in accordance with the provisions differing with those that are indicated in the mentioned Law.

The question of the ICAC’s jurisdiction in a particular case shall be decided by the arbitral tribunal examining the case. The ICAC may take a separate decision on the jurisdiction issue before hearing the case on its merits, or mention it in the decision on the merits of the case.

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3. What is the procedure of filing a statement of claim with the ICAC at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation?

A statement of claim is to be filed with the ICAC, if the appropriate registration fee has been paid already. The amount of such fee is 1000 US dollars or 30000 Russian rubles in accordance with the Appendix to the Rules of ICAC enacted on March 1, 2006.

A statement of claim is not considered filed if the fee is not paid.

According to § 15 of the Rules of the ICAC, all documents pertaining to the institution and conduct of the arbitral proceedings shall be presented by the parties to the ICAC in five copies, or it may be in three copies if the case is to be considered by a sole arbitrator.

The above-mentioned documents are usually presented in the language of the contract, or in the language of correspondence carried out between the parties, or in Russian.

Written evidence is presented in the language of original.

A statement of claim shall include (§ 9 of the Rules of the ICAC):

a) names, postal addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses of the parties;
b) demands of the claimant;
c) substantiation of the jurisdiction of the ICAC;
d) a statement of the factual circumstances supporting the claim;
e) evidence confirming such circumstances;
f) substantiation of the claims with reference to applicable law;
g) amount of the claim;
h) calculation of the amount of each demand; and
i) a list of documents attached to the statement of claim.

Statement of claim is signed by a duly authorized person and be accompanied by documented evidence of his/her powers.

As to the presentation of the materials relating to the case, we recommend that you number the papers supplied in connection with the claim and make a list of these materials. We ask you to print a statement of claim (reference, explanation) using the font size not smaller that 12. If the volume of the supplied documents is large, we recommend that you make two holes on the left side of your documents by a puncher and separate each set of documents from another set.

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4. What is the way to determine the amount of claim?

§ 10 of the ICAC Rules establishes four methods of determining the amount of claim:

1) if the claim is for recovery of money, the sum of such recovery is determined by the amount claimed, and if the claim is for recovery of interest being charged - by the sum amounted to the date of the bringing an action;
2) if the claim is for vindication of property, the value of the property sought to be indicated;
3) if the claim is for recognition or transformation of a legal relationship - by the value of the subject-matter of the relationship at the moment of bringing the action;
4) if the claim is for an act to be done or because of failure to act - on the basis of the data available regarding the property interests of the claimant.

The claimant must indicate in the statement of claim the amount of claim also in the cases when his statement of claim or its part is of non-pecuniary nature. For example, if the claim is for breaking off the contract, the amount of such claim is the amount of the contract.

Should the claim consist of several demands, the amount of each demand shall be indicated separately. In this case, the amount of the claim shall be the total of all demands.

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5. What is the way to pay arbitration costs and fees?

The question of arbitration costs and fees, as well as the question of counting such costs and fees, is dealt with in the Schedule on Arbitration Costs and Fees (Schedule) appended to the Rules of the ICAC at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the RF.

The arbitration costs and fees include:

1) Registration fee is a fee, which is paid when filling a claim or application securing claim to the ICAC for covering expenses connected with the beginning of the arbitral proceeding.

The amount of the registration fee is 1000 US dollars or 30000 Russian rubles, depending on the currency of the claim.

The already paid fee is not refundable.

2) Arbitration fee is a fee, which is paid in advance on each claim filed with ICAC, including arbitrator's fee and administrative fee.

Arbitration fee can be counted in Russian rubles and in US dollars, depending on the currency of the claim. An arbitration fee is counted by the Secretariat of ICAC in accordance with the specific scale by summing up arbitrator's fee and administrative fee depending on the amount of the claim. Claimant is informed about arbitration fee by an appropriate letter.

As per clause 4 par 3 of the Appendix, taking into account the complexity of the case and considerably increased temporary costs and expenses as well as expenses connected with the arbitral proceeding, on the tribunal's proposal the Presidium of the ICAC is entitled to pass a ruling concerning the increase of the arbitration fee.

In some cases, set forth in the par 4 of the Appendix, an arbitration fee can be reduced:

if the case is settled by a sole arbitrator, the arbitration fee is reduced by 20%;
if the ICAC receives an application concerning the party's objection from proceeding up to the first day of the tribunal - by 50%;
if the case is terminated in the first hearing without passing an award - by 25%.

In accordance with clause 4 par 4 of the rules of cutting down the amount of the arbitration fee do not cover registration fee.

As per clause 1 par 6 of the Appendix, unless otherwise is agreed upon between the parties, an arbitration fee is paid by the party, against which an arbitral award is passed.

In accordance with par 6 of the Appendix, when the claim is satisfied partially, the arbitration fee is to be charged to the claimant proportionally to non-satisfied part of the claim.

Arbitrator's fee is the fee for paying the examination of the case, from which fees to arbitrators, reporters, the President of the ICAC and members of the Presidium of the ICAC are paid.

Administrative fee is designed for covering expenses on organization and carrying out the arbitral award as well as general economic expenses, connected with the activity of the ICAC.

3) Extra charges connected with holding each particular case (expenses on carrying out examination, written translation, remuneration to interpreters).

As per clause 1 par 7 of the Appendix, ICAC can oblige the parties or either of them to pay an advance for covering extra charges.

4) Expenses of the parties are the expenses which they bear in connection with the protection of their interests, when settling their dispute in the ICAC, besides the above-mentioned expenses.

The winning party can claim the tribunal to reimburse the other party reasonable sustained losses, including expenses on legal representation.

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6. What are the possibilities of the parties on formation of the Arbitral Tribunal?

In accordance with clause 2 § 17 of the Rules of ICAC, unless the parties to a dispute agree that their case shall be examined by a sole arbitrator, an Arbitral Tribunal shall be formed of three arbitrators, if the Presidium of the ICAC, taking into account the complexity of the case, the amount of the claim (usually, not exceeding 25000 US dollars) and other circumstances, does not consider the expediency of settling the case by a sole arbitrator.

Where an arbitral tribunal is to be composed of three arbitrators, the ICAC Presidium shall appoint a presiding arbitrator and a reserve presiding arbitrator from the List of Arbitrators.

When forming the tribunal of three arbitrators, the claimant not later than 15 days after receipt of the ICACs notification informs ICAC about the arbitrator chosen as well as the reserve arbitrator, if such notification was not made by the claimant before. The respondent shall make its choice not later than 15 days after receipt the notification of the ICAC concerning choosing or nominating an arbitrator and a reserve arbitrator on the part of the claimant.

If both the claimant and the respondent fail to choose and reserve arbitrators in the required time, they are to be nominated by the Presidium of the ICAC.

If there are two or more claimants or respondents, both the claimants and respondents shall choose one arbitrator and one reserve arbitrator on each side. They may also request the President of the ICAC for nomination of an arbitrator and reserve arbitrator on their behalf.

If claimants and respondents fail to come to an agreement, the arbitrator and reserve arbitrator shall then be appointed by the President of the ICAC from the List of arbitrators. The Presidium of the ICAC shall be entitled to nominate an arbitrator and a reserve arbitrator of the other party.

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7. What is duration of the proceedings in a case handled by the ICAC at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the RF?

According to the § 24 of the Rules of the ICAC, the ICAC shall take measures to secure, as far as possible, completion of the proceedings in a case within 180 days from the date of the formation of the Arbitral Tribunal.

Presidium of the ICAC may, if it is necessary, at the request of the Tribunal or in its own discretion extend the above-mentioned term.

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8. What is the way and time required to notify the parties about the hearing of a case?

Notice shall be forwarded to the parties by registered letters with return receipt requested or in any other way which provides a record of the attempt to deliver the appropriate mail.

Notice may equally be delivered or served personally to a party against receipt.

Notice shall be considered delivered if it is delivered to the party personally or at his place of business, permanent residence or mailing address. If none of these can be found after making a reasonable inquiry, a written communication is deemed to have been received if it is sent to the last-known place of business, permanent residence or mailing address of the party by registered letter or any other means which provides a record of the attempt to deliver it.

The moment of receiving the notice is the moment of its delivery.

The parties shall be notified by notices in such a manner that the parties shall have at their disposal not less than a month from the date of their receipt prior to the date of hearing the case.

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9. Is hearing a case in ICAC conducted in public?

According to the § 32 of Rules of ICAC the hearing of the case shall be conducted in private. With permission of the arbitral tribunal and with the consent of the parties, persons not participating in the proceedings may be present at the hearing.

Moreover § 25 of Rules of ICAC obligates the arbitrators, the reporters, experts, nominated by the tribunal, ICAC and its staff, ICC of the RF and its staff to secure confidentiality of information which has become known to them about the disputes examined by the ICAC which can impair interests of the parties.

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10. How can the party examine the documents in case?

Rules of ICAC do not stipulate any procedure of examination of the parties with the case as, in accordance with clause 2 of § 16 of the Rules of ICAC all the documents pertaining to a case presented by one of the parties are sent to the other party.

For that reason Para. 15 of the Rules of ICAC establishes that the parties shall send to the ICAC all the documents in five copies, and in case settling their disputes by a sole arbitrator - in triplicate with the appropriate increase of copies if more then two parties are involved in the dispute, unless otherwise will be specified by the ICAC.

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11. Can the expenses incurred for the arbitral proceedings be reimbursed to the party?

The winning party may demand that the other party be obliged to reimburse his reasonable expenses incurred in connection with the arbitral proceedings and, in particular, the expenses connected with defending his interests through legal representatives, according to the § 9 of the Schedule on arbitration fees and costs, that is appendix to the Rules of the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

Moreover, taking into account the circumstances of a particular case, the ICAC may direct that a party reimburse the other party's unnecessary expenses caused by the former's acts which are inappropriate or in bad faith, including acts, caused undue delay of the arbitral proceeding.

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12. What is the way to establish Interim Measures of Protection?

As per clause 1 § 36 of the Rules of ICAC, unless otherwise is specified upon between the parties, the tribunal is entitled, at the request of either party, to establish measures of protection in respect of subject matter of the case for either party which it considers to be necessary.

As per clauses 2, 3 § 36 of the Rules of ICAC, the tribunal can order that either party shall give appropriate ensuring in connection with the ensurance measures taken.

Such measures can be taken by the tribunal in the form of interim decision.

If the party has applied to the competent state court filing an application to take protective measures of the claim to be made or the claim, which has already been made with the ICAC, as well as when the court has passed a determination regarding taken such measures, the party shall inform about it the ICAC without any delay.