Investor in Latvia and

dispute resolution options

Ziedonis Ūdris,Chairman of the Council

of the Court of Arbitration

of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

21- 22 November 2013, Vilnius

Legal Frameworkto define jurisdiction

• Civil Procedure Law

• Administrative Procedure Law

• Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001

• International Conventions

• Bilateral Treaties

2

Jurisdiction - Civil Procedure Law

• Court`s exclusive jurisdiction in real estate, patent, labour and other matters;

• Matters tried by first instance, appelate and cassasion court;

• Article 23: Parties may agree to refer their dispute for settlement to the arbitration

3

Jurisdiction - Administrative Procedure Law

• Competition

• Taxes and customs

• Construction permits

• Public procurement

• Trade marks

• Consumers

• and other administrative acts

4

Jurisdiction - Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001

• Court of respondent`s domicile

• Court of the place of delivery of goods or provision of services

• Place of tort,delict or quasi-delict

• Place of branch, agency or other establishment

• Place of one of number of defendants

• Insurance, consumer, employment

• Lis pendis – the court first seised

• West Tankers case – Article 1(2)(d)

5

Jurisdiction - International Conventions

• 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition anf Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards – Article II(3)

• 1961 Geneva Convention on International Commercial Arbitration – Article V(3), VI(3)

• 1965 Washington Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States

• 1994 Lisbon Energy Charter Treaty – Article 26(4)(c)

6

Jurisdiction – Bilateral Treaties

• Agreements on provision of mutual legal assistance:

Estonia, Lithuania, Russia, Moldova, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Norway

7

Jurisdiction – Bilateral InvestmentTreaties

• Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Taiwan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Belgium, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, Georgia, Croatia, India, Island, Lithuania, Great Britain, Kuveit, Kirgizstan, China, Kazahstan, Canada, Israel, Italy, Singapure, Finland, Slovakia, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Poland, Norway, Netherlands, Moldova, Sweden, Vietnam, Germany, Uzbekistan, Hungary, Ukraine, Turkey, Switzerland, United States

8

Court of Arbitration of the Latvian Chamber

of Commerce and Industry

• Established in 1934

• Provides the settlement of local and international commercial disputes

• Rules of Arbitration/ Rules of Arbitration for the Small Dispute Settlement

• UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules

9

LCCI Court of Arbitration

In the last 10 years about 20% of the cases were international disputes involving parties from: Estonia Lithuania

Germany Moldova

Russia Great Britain

Spain Italy

Austria the Netherlands

Switzerland Poland

United States of America etc.

10

STATISTICS- writs of execution on enforcement of

arbitral awards in Latvia

11

New arbitration law in Latvia

• Establishing of permanent arbitration institutions

• Certification of arbitrators

• Court assistance

12

Thank you for your attention!

www.chamber.lv

arbitr@chamber.lv

13