22 - Judicial Control of Arbitral Awards in Ukraine

Summary

Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine as a young independent state faced many challenges including the proper administration of trade disputes with foreign parties. For a certain period there were no such institutions that could resolve these disputes. To prevent the creation of a legal vacuum, the Parliament of Ukraine, along with the establishing of the foreign trade legal framework for Ukrainian nationals and adopting the Law on Foreign Economic Activity,¹ recommended that the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) establish a permanent arbitration body for prompt and efficient consideration of “foreign economic disputes.” For this purpose, on August 11, 1992, the International Commercial Arbitration Court (ICAC) and the Maritime Arbitration Commission (MAC)² were created. However, almost from the very inception both institutions could hardly operate because of lack of legal basis for their functioning. To improve this complicated situation, the Law on International Commercial Arbitration³ (the International Arbitration Statute; ICA Law) was adopted on February 24, 1994 (effective April 20, 1994).⁴