News date: 4 November 2013
On October 31, the Law and Business Association held a conference on the topical issues of legal practice in France and Ukraine. Ambassador of France to Ukraine Alain Remy and president of the Law and Business Association George Teboul welcomed participants of the conference. The speakers at the conference also were Frank Denel, a member of the Montpellier Bar Association («The view from France: Comparison of evidence provision in civil and commercial courts in France and Ukraine»), Eugenia Paly, lawyer of Gide Loyrette Nouel Law Firm («The view from Ukraine: Comparison of evidence provision in civil and commercial courts of Ukraine and France»), Genevieve Augendre, chairman of the French Arbitration Association («The view from France: Enforcement of arbitral awards. Features of practice in France and Ukraine») and Oleksandr Vygovskyy («The view from Ukraine: Enforcement of arbitral awards. Features of practice in Ukraine»).
Oleksandr Vygovskyy spoke on challenges during recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Ukraine and focused on rejection by the Ukrainian courts to enforce foreign arbitral awards on the basis of reservation on public order and lack of jurisdiction according to Ukrainian legislation. Oleksandr noted that the practice of application of the notion «public policy» by the Ukrainian courts is characterized by inconsistency and unpredictability and any non-compliance of a foreign arbitral award with the Ukrainian legislation and law-enforcement practice may be considered as violation of public policy. During the speech he particularly focused on lack of jurisdiction over corporate disputes in Ukraine, refusal to comply with arbitration award made pursuant to the contract declared invalid in Ukraine, and enforcement of arbitration awards in the context of bankruptcy proceedings. Oleksandr emphasized that judges may use the thesis on a possible bankruptcy of a Ukrainian enterprise as a result of a foreign arbitral award enforcement to justify their reluctance to approve execution of the judgment. Key points of the report were illustrated by numerous examples from the Ukrainian case-law.
The chairman of the French Arbitration Association Genevieve Augendre shared experience on enforcement of arbitral awards in France.
The problem issues of Ukrainian-French cooperation in legal field were also discussed by French Ambassador Alain Remy, president of the Law and Business Association Georges Teboul and representatives of Ukrainian and French law firms.