LEGAL NEWS DIGEST APRIL
The Moscow Arbitration Court has obliged the Russian subsidiary of “Google” and its American parent company “Google” LLC to restore access to the nine YouTube channels of REN TV (Russian channel). “ACCEPT” LLC - the REN TV channel, acted as Plaintiff in this case
The final part of the decision of the Moscow City Arbitration Court on case A40-117873/2022 was published. The Court ruled to invalidate Google's refusal to fulfill the terms of use, to charge an astrent and to order the restoration of access.
Since the beginning of the military operation, a number of Russian media resources have been blocked on YouTube, and some have challenged the blocking. In October 2022, a court ordered Google to unblock the YouTube channels of VGTRK and “Moscow Media”. In November 2022, the court ordered Google to pay a penalty of up to 1 billion rubles for its refusal to unblock NTV channel on YouTube.
In case of failure to perform the judicial decision within 5 days, the Defendants will have to pay a court penalty at the rate of 100,000 rubles per day for the first week of non-performance with the condition that the amount of the daily court penalty is doubled for the second and the next weeks of non-performance of the judicial decision. In this case the amount of the contractual penalty cannot exceed 10 000 - multiple of the daily calculated amount of the contractual penalty. The Arbitration Court also ruled to exact from “Google” and “Google” LLC state duty expenses in the amount of 12 thousand rubles. The decision may be appealed within one month of its acceptance to the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal.
Ban on the entry of Russian ships by Bangladesh does not stop the import of the Russian goods
The government of Bangladesh has imposed restrictions barring the entry of 69 Russian ships into its maritime waters in line with US and EU sanctions. At the same time, they have been removed from the relevant register maintained by the Office. This is how the Maritime Trade Authority responded to the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. This means that Russian vessels will not be able to bring in shipments of imports, stop for fuelling, anchor in the area, or even use sea routes.
Switzerland Federal Council has received legal clarifications on frozen Russian assets
In the context of international proposals to use frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine, the Federal Council sought official clarification on the legal basis for any such action. A working group led by the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) concluded that the confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Federal Constitution and the prevailing legal order. The Federal Council noted the working group’s conclusions at its meeting on 15 February. Support for Ukraine will continue, independent of the discussions on frozen assets.
Unilateral termination of high-speed train maintenance and repair contract due to sanctions and claims arising therefrom makes further performance of contractual obligations impossible
On December 6, 2022, the Moscow Arbitration Court accepted the claim of “Russian Railways” JSC to invalidate the unilateral termination of the contract for the maintenance and repair of high-speed trains, previously obliging “Siemens Mobility” GmbH to fulfill its obligations under the contract for the maintenance and repair of “Sapsan” and “Lastochka” trains. The lawsuit also determined the amount of the court penalty in case of non-performance of the court act in the amount of 16,088,951 rubles for each day of non-performance.
Thus on February 15, 2023 the Court declared the termination of the contract between “Siemens Mobility” GmbH and Russian Railways illegitimate due to which the latter was deprived of the opportunity to operate the expensive equipment and fully satisfied the claim.
State Atomic Energy Corporation “Rosatom” subsidiary demands repayment of €920 billion loan from customer of nuclear power plant (NNP) construction in Finland
Rosatom's demands for an early closure of the loan became known from a report by Atomenergoprom Group (part of the state corporation). The Finnish energy company had previously been issued a loan for €920.5 million issued to the project company to finance the construction of the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant in Finland.
In 2022, Finnish design company “Fennovoima” Ltd unilaterally terminated its contract with Russia's Rosatom. At that time, the Dispute Review Board (DRB) under the ICC ruled that “Fennovoima's” Ltd decision to terminate the NPP contract was unlawful.
The contract to build the nuclear power plant was signed in 2013 at an estimated cost of €7-7.5 billion, but the Finnish authorities delayed the approval process for several years, and in the spring of 2022 the customer terminated the contract, stressing that the events in Ukraine “aggravated the risks for this project” and many logistics chains were disrupted.
RAA Arbitration Seminar & Networking in Dubai
On 17 February 2023 the Russian Arbitration Association (RAA) held an arbitration seminar & networking in Dubai International Financial Center. It was an inaguaral event in Dubai and the Middle East of the RAA. The meeting focused on sharing the practitioners’ experience and was attended by 70 lawyers from Russia, the Middle East and North Africa on arbitrations affected by unilateral restrictive measures, including sanctions.
Roman Zykov, the Secretary General of the Russian Arbitration Association gave a key note speech, in which he discussed the impact of sanctions on international arbitration. He noted that international arbitration is facing considerable challenges, and therefore needs to adapt to the current environment and secure access to justice.
Vladimir Khvalei, the Chairman of the RAA Board, moderated the second session of the Seminar that was devoted to choosing a neutral forum for sanctions-related disputes.
The final part of the decision of the Moscow City Arbitration Court on case A40-117873/2022 was published. The Court ruled to invalidate Google's refusal to fulfill the terms of use, to charge an astrent and to order the restoration of access.
Since the beginning of the military operation, a number of Russian media resources have been blocked on YouTube, and some have challenged the blocking. In October 2022, a court ordered Google to unblock the YouTube channels of VGTRK and “Moscow Media”. In November 2022, the court ordered Google to pay a penalty of up to 1 billion rubles for its refusal to unblock NTV channel on YouTube.
In case of failure to perform the judicial decision within 5 days, the Defendants will have to pay a court penalty at the rate of 100,000 rubles per day for the first week of non-performance with the condition that the amount of the daily court penalty is doubled for the second and the next weeks of non-performance of the judicial decision. In this case the amount of the contractual penalty cannot exceed 10 000 - multiple of the daily calculated amount of the contractual penalty. The Arbitration Court also ruled to exact from “Google” and “Google” LLC state duty expenses in the amount of 12 thousand rubles. The decision may be appealed within one month of its acceptance to the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal.
Ban on the entry of Russian ships by Bangladesh does not stop the import of the Russian goods
The government of Bangladesh has imposed restrictions barring the entry of 69 Russian ships into its maritime waters in line with US and EU sanctions. At the same time, they have been removed from the relevant register maintained by the Office. This is how the Maritime Trade Authority responded to the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. This means that Russian vessels will not be able to bring in shipments of imports, stop for fuelling, anchor in the area, or even use sea routes.
Switzerland Federal Council has received legal clarifications on frozen Russian assets
In the context of international proposals to use frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine, the Federal Council sought official clarification on the legal basis for any such action. A working group led by the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) concluded that the confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Federal Constitution and the prevailing legal order. The Federal Council noted the working group’s conclusions at its meeting on 15 February. Support for Ukraine will continue, independent of the discussions on frozen assets.
Unilateral termination of high-speed train maintenance and repair contract due to sanctions and claims arising therefrom makes further performance of contractual obligations impossible
On December 6, 2022, the Moscow Arbitration Court accepted the claim of “Russian Railways” JSC to invalidate the unilateral termination of the contract for the maintenance and repair of high-speed trains, previously obliging “Siemens Mobility” GmbH to fulfill its obligations under the contract for the maintenance and repair of “Sapsan” and “Lastochka” trains. The lawsuit also determined the amount of the court penalty in case of non-performance of the court act in the amount of 16,088,951 rubles for each day of non-performance.
Thus on February 15, 2023 the Court declared the termination of the contract between “Siemens Mobility” GmbH and Russian Railways illegitimate due to which the latter was deprived of the opportunity to operate the expensive equipment and fully satisfied the claim.
State Atomic Energy Corporation “Rosatom” subsidiary demands repayment of €920 billion loan from customer of nuclear power plant (NNP) construction in Finland
Rosatom's demands for an early closure of the loan became known from a report by Atomenergoprom Group (part of the state corporation). The Finnish energy company had previously been issued a loan for €920.5 million issued to the project company to finance the construction of the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant in Finland.
In 2022, Finnish design company “Fennovoima” Ltd unilaterally terminated its contract with Russia's Rosatom. At that time, the Dispute Review Board (DRB) under the ICC ruled that “Fennovoima's” Ltd decision to terminate the NPP contract was unlawful.
The contract to build the nuclear power plant was signed in 2013 at an estimated cost of €7-7.5 billion, but the Finnish authorities delayed the approval process for several years, and in the spring of 2022 the customer terminated the contract, stressing that the events in Ukraine “aggravated the risks for this project” and many logistics chains were disrupted.
RAA Arbitration Seminar & Networking in Dubai
On 17 February 2023 the Russian Arbitration Association (RAA) held an arbitration seminar & networking in Dubai International Financial Center. It was an inaguaral event in Dubai and the Middle East of the RAA. The meeting focused on sharing the practitioners’ experience and was attended by 70 lawyers from Russia, the Middle East and North Africa on arbitrations affected by unilateral restrictive measures, including sanctions.
Roman Zykov, the Secretary General of the Russian Arbitration Association gave a key note speech, in which he discussed the impact of sanctions on international arbitration. He noted that international arbitration is facing considerable challenges, and therefore needs to adapt to the current environment and secure access to justice.
Vladimir Khvalei, the Chairman of the RAA Board, moderated the second session of the Seminar that was devoted to choosing a neutral forum for sanctions-related disputes.