The law “On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan” in connection with the adoption of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On International Commercial Arbitration” was signed by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan

    The need to draft a law

   It is known that with Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On International Commercial Arbitration”, which entered into force on 16 August 2021, a number  of powers were granted to economic courts to hear cases related to arbitration proceedings. In particular, the law provides for the appointment of an arbitration, the satisfaction of the rejection of the arbitration, the adoption of a decision on the termination of the arbitrator’s powers, the adoption of decisions on the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, the recognition or enforcement of interim measures, the adoption of an interim measure, assistance in obtaining evidence, the annulment of an arbitral award, recognition and enforcement of the arbitral award.

    However, due to the lack of specific mechanisms for implementing these powers in economic procedural legislation, problems have arisen with the handling of this category of cases by the economic courts.

    In addition, the uncertainty of the clear boundaries of hearing between umpires and international arbitration cases in our country by economic courts, have led to misunderstandings during the application of the law.

   Also, the adoption of this Law required to establish specific features in the procedural legislation by economic courts, related to proceedings in cases involving foreign arbitrations and international arbitrations in our country.

New norms established in the law

  First, according to the content of the applications included in article 25 of the Economic Procedure code of the Republic of Uzbekistan (hereinafter referred to as the EPC), all works related to arbitration proceedings are defined as subject to consideration by an economic court, regardless of whether they are international commercial arbitration operating in our country (hereinafter referred to as arbitration) or foreign arbitration.

   Second, a new article 28¹ has been added to the EPC, which establishes that cases related to arbitration include nine types of applications and motions provided by the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On International Commercial Arbitration”.

Such cases are divided into two types, the first type being the appointment of an arbitrator; the satisfaction of the rejection of the arbitration; the adoption of a decision on the termination of the arbitrator’s powers; the adoption of decisions on the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal; assistance in obtaining evidence; Cases of annulment of an award of arbitration shall be considered by the economic courts only if the place of arbitration is in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The second type
is recognition and enforcement; the taking of an interim measure; The work on the recognition and enforcement of an award is same for foreign arbitrations and to the arbitrations in force in our country.

   Third, it is determined that cases related to arbitration proceedings are considered by the courts of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, the courts of the regions and the city of Tashkent, namely, their panel of judges for economic cases.

   Fourth, in accordance with the additions made to article 37 of the EPC, which establishes the rules for the particular proceedings: a) the appointment of an arbitrator, the satisfaction of the rejection of the arbitration, the adoption of a decision on the termination of the arbitrator’s powers, , the adoption of decisions on the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, assistance in obtaining evidence, and the setting aside of the award shall be submitted to the economic court of the place of arbitration; b) the recognition and enforcement of interim measures, taking interim measures for a claim pending before an arbitral tribunal, shall be submitted to the economic court at the place of arbitration or state registration of the debtor or, if the place of state registration of the debtor is unknown, at the location of his property.

   Fifth, in order to ensure the immunity of arbitrators and other participants in the arbitral proceedings, as amended in additions made to Article 53 of the EPC-arbitrators, experts appointed by the arbitral tribunal, employees of the arbitral institution – may not be called as witnesses in circumstances of which they became aware during the arbitral proceedings.

   The sixth, EPC was supplemented by chapter 29¹, which divided arbitration proceedings into two paragraphs.

  The first paragraph is entitled “Proceedings in cases involving the facilitation of arbitration“, this paragraph describes in detail the issues: a) general rules for the consideration of cases involving the facilitation of arbitration; b) form and content of the application; c) documents attached to the application; d) litigation in cases related to the promotion of arbitration.

   The second paragraph sets out the rules relating to appeals against final arbitral awards. In particular, the right to appeal against an arbitral award in force in our country is granted not only to a party to the arbitral proceedings but also to persons not involved in the case, on whose rights and obligations the arbitral award is made.

   Also, the second paragraph establishes the form and content of the application for annulment of the arbitral award; the procedure for examining the application; the grounds for annulment of the award and the requirements for the content of the determination.

  Seventh, the issues of recognition and enforcement of an arbitration award in accordance with the addition made to Article 248 of the EPC, in order to establish the same procedure for foreign arbitration and arbitrations operating in our country in compliance with international law, if the arbitration seat is located in the Republic of Uzbekistan, in the manner prescribed by Chapter 33 of the EPC, it is determined what will be decided taking into account the specifics provided by the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On International Commercial Arbitration”.

    This Act also amends and supplements the Act “On State Duty”, which establishes a state duty of 2 times the CB on applications to appeal an arbitration decision.

   In conclusion, the adoption of this law will contribute to improving the rules governing relations in the field of international commercial arbitration in our country.

OTAKHONOV Foziljon
the director of the Legislation and parliamentary
research institute under the Oliy Majlis of
the Republic of Uzbekistan,
professor, doctor of law