Subpoena of Evidence from Arbitration Court

Abstract

International Commercial Arbitration is subject of Article 27, Law of the Russian Federation No. 5338‑1, July 07, 1993, while Arbitration Proceedings in the Russian Federation are described in Article 30, Federal Law No. 382-FZ of December 29, 2015. If a dispute settlement goes to institutional arbitration, a party or an arbitration court has the right to apply to a competent court with a subpoena of evidence. This article features the publication and execution of subpoena of evidence by arbitration court for the recovery of evidence. This category differs from other arbitration proceedings in that it requires a procedural appeal that initiates the proceedings, i.e., the subpoena of the arbitration court, and an applicant, i.e., the institutional arbitration court that is seeking assistance in the dispute. The author used the methods of teleological interpretation and functional analysis to justify the admissibility of normative provisions that exclude the right to issue a subpoena by ad hoc arbitrators and to send subpoena of evidence directly by the parties to the arbitration proceedings. The parties to the arbitration should be involved as interested parties. The applicant and the stakeholders have limited procedural rights and obligations since the court neither carries out jurisdictional activities nor considers the dispute per se, but coordinates assistance functions. As a result, some procedural shortcomings make it impossible to clarify the form and content of subpoena, as well as the type and content of documents that should be attached to it, e.g., an arbitration agreement, a state fee payment confirmation, a resolution on the arbitral panel, etc. The author also analyzed grounds for refusal to execute a subpoena of evidence. Excessive discretion and Delphic language should not violate the rights and legitimate interests of third parties, thus preventing them from participating in the arbitration.

Keywords

• arbitration proceedings
• assistance in relation to arbitration
• subpoena of evidence
• execution of a court order
• obtaining evidence
• means of proof