DISPUTES ON IMPROPER FULFILLMENT OF ECONOMIC OBLIGATIONS AND RECOVERY OF DAMAGES

The disputes on improper fulfillment of obligations and recovery of damages, i.e. the category of cases for which settlement the Economic Court of the Commonwealth of Independent States has been initially established, constitute a sufficient portion of the total number of cases examined by the Court. During the period from 1994 to 2006, the CIS Economic Court has passed 8 acts with respect to disputes on improper fulfillment of obligations and recovery of damages, including 3 judgments on the actions for improper fulfillment, by the Republic of Kazakhstan, of its respective obligations under the agreements signed by the same (Judgment No. 03/94 dated December 14, 1994; Judgment No. 04/95 dated March 30, 1995; Judgment No. С-1/15-96 dated October 3, 1996). In five cases a decision on refusal to entertain the action or to cease proceedings in the case was made by the CIS Economic Court (Judgment No. С-1/8-96 dated May 15, 1996; Judgment No. С-1/16-96 dated February 6, 1997; Judgment No. 01‑1/3‑2000 dated June 7, 2000; Judgment 01‑1/4‑2000 dated December 13, 2000; Judgment No. 01-1/5-03 dated November 19, 2003).

The judgments passed by the Economic Court with respect to the improper-fulfillment-disputes reflect the main principles of identification of existence or non-existence of the Court jurisdiction, as the defendants have always declared their cases to be outside the jurisdiction of the CIS Economic Court on the grounds that economic obligations were violated not by the States but by their economic entities.

Taking account of the provisions contained in the Regulations of the CIS Economic Court, the Court refused to examine the disputes brought by unauthorized bodies of the State (Judgment No. 01-1/4-2000 dated December 13, 2000), administrative territorial units (Judgment No. С-1/8-96 dated May 15, 1996), or economic entities (Judgment No. 01-1/3-2000 dated June 7, 2000; Judgment No. 01-1/5-03 dated November 19, 2004). The Court ceased proceedings in the case based on the claim raised by the Government of the Republic of Moldova against the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, on improper fulfillment of economic obligations and recovery of debt for executed work (Judgment No. C-1/16-96 dated September 20, 1996), as no inter-governmental agreement had been signed by and between the same to govern harvesting in the Republic of Kazakhstan using transport facilities of the Republic of Moldova.

The CIS Economic Court has established that any disputes on improper fulfillment of obligations under the contracts signed by and between any economic entities or administrative territorial units within fulfillment of any inter-State or intergovernmental agreements or approved by the Heads of the States, Governments, Ministries, shall fall under its jurisdiction. The subject-matter for examination by the CIS Economic Court shall be the fact that the obligations of the State to ensure fulfillment of the respective agreement signed by and between the economic entities or administrative territorial units have been violated. Should this be the case, the Court shall ascertain the fact of violation from the part of the State, and shall recommend that fulfillment of the appropriate agreements should be ensured.