Kompozit LLC v The Republic of Moldova - SCC Emergency Arbitration EA 2016-095 - Arbitrator Jose Rosell - Emergency Award on Interim Measures - 14 June 2016
Country
Year
2016
Summary
Case Report (free download)
Case Report by Manu Misra, Editor Ignacio Torterola
Summary
In the Decision rendered on 14 June 2016, the Emergency Arbitrator granted an application for interim relief and ordered Moldova to refrain from conducting and take no further steps relating to a share-cancelling process enacted after Moldovan authorities concluded that a Russian entity improperly acquired its shares in a Moldovan commercial bank. The Emergency Arbitrator concluded that the ensuing harm from the cancellation could not be resolved through monetary compensation and accepted the position of the tribunal in Sergei Paushok v Mongolia that the criterion of 'irreparable harm' has a flexible meaning in international law and that the possibility of monetary compensation does not necessarily eliminate the need for interim measures. However, it declined to allow the investor to recover its suspended shareholder rights since the Moldovan National Bank's decision to do so was neither permanent nor irrevocable. Towards doing so, the Emergency Arbitrator also decided that a "cooling-off period" stipulated by the Russia-Moldova bilateral investment treaty, during which the parties are obliged to try to resolve the dispute amicably "as far as possible", did not apply to the request for interim relief in this case since Moldova had refused to engage in settlement discussions once it has received the notice of dispute. Additionally, it decided that the 2010 version of the SCC Arbitration Rules may be applicable to disputes arising out of investment treaties concluded before 2010.
Main issues
Emergency Decision on Interim Relief - Cooling-Off Period, Urgency Test, Substantial/Significant Prejudice, Irreparable Harm
Case report provided by International Arbitration Case Law (IACL)
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