Originially from: World Arbitration and Mediation Review (WAMR)

The Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in the
Ukraine?
by
Andrey Strutinskiy

Background
Until the early 1990s, the enforcement of arbitral awards in Ukraine, as one of the
republics of the Soviet Union, was an issue of theoretical discussion and never arose in practice.
Although every contract made with a Soviet party included an arbitration clause, the enforcement
of arbitral awards in the Soviet Union had no significant practical value, because of the state
monopoly on foreign trade. Only state agencies were parties to international commercial
contracts. If an award against a Soviet party was rendered and due process requirements were
not violated, it was a matter of prestige for the Soviet Union to comply with the award without
an enforcement procedure. Accordingly, not a single enforcement action had ever taken place in
the Soviet Union, even though the Soviet Union was a party to the 1958 New York Arbitration
Convention and Soviet foreign trade entities were frequently involved in arbitral proceedings in
foreign countries.1 Moreover, the state judiciary in the Soviet Union was not involved in
international commercial dispute settlements. As a result, after the dissolution of the Soviet
Union, the case law with regard to recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards was
nonexistent.2 Furthermore, the Ukrainian courts lacked any significant experience in
international relations.
Ukrainian courts now are beginning to deal with cases that involve international
commercial arbitration. Many courts are still unfamiliar with the rules of the international
treaties, which they need to take into account, particularly the New York Arbitration Convention.
Many Ukrainian courts have never confronted this issue.3 However, the initial experience
indicates that the courts are in favor of supporting a positive attitude toward international
arbitration, which has historical antecedents in Ukraine (as part of the Soviet Union).4
Generally, Ukrainian courts do not look suspiciously upon international commercial arbitration.
A central difficulty lies in the limited access to information about foreign court practice
relating to international arbitration and the enforcement of arbitral awards. Unfortunately, the
great majority of judges are not able to use the foreign sources of information about the practice
of international arbitration due to language barriers. Very few sources concerning the subject are
available in the Ukrainian language. Another major problem is that the judicial branch is still
quite weak and prone to political influence. Not long ago, for example, a top government
official expressed outrage at courts that deny the claims of tax authorities against private