Natalia Prisekina has become the head of the MAC under the Russian CCI in Vladivostok

Natalia Prisekina, a Partner at Pepeliaev Group and Head of the firm's Far East Office has been appointed as head of the department of the Maritime Arbitration Commission (MAC) under the Vladivostok Office of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), which is the first of its kind in Russia’s Far East and the second in the country as a whole.

Sergey Katyrtin, President of the CCI and Alexey Kostin, Chairman of the International Commercial Arbitration Court (ICAC) and MAC announced the resolution to open the department of the MAC on 6 September 2024 during the IX Eastern Economic Forum. They stressed that, for economic cooperation to develop between Asia-Pacific Countries, an efficient mechanism is required for resolving potential commercial disputes, and that, as practice has demonstrated, international commercial arbitration serves as such. The International Commercial Arbitration Court and the Maritime Arbitration Commission function at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

We note that a department of the ICAC, which is also headed by Natalia Prisekina, has been successfully working in Vladivostok since 2019.

NOTE: The Maritime Arbitration Commission at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation was founded in 1930, and today it is one of the oldest maritime arbitration institutions in our country and in the world.

The MAC was initially created to examine only those disputes that had emerged in connection with the saving of vessels and cargoes at sea. Now, along with traditional disputes arising out of cargo transportation, ship chartering, and marine insurance contracts, as well as salvage, collision between ships, and fishing operations, the Commission may examine disputes that arise out of brokerage and agency contracts, vessel repairs, vessel management, fishing activities and various other relationships that arise in the area of merchant shipping.

Enterprises connected with merchant shipping have compelling reasons to include in their contracts an arbitration clause regarding disputes being referred to the MAC, which is an internationally recognised centre of maritime arbitration conducting impartial and qualified proceedings in maritime disputes.

MAC proceedings are attractive because they entail a number of advantages:

• the parties can choose the arbitrators to resolve their dispute, including experts who know the legal specifics of maritime shipping and are experienced in resolving maritime disputes;
• the proceedings and all case materials are confidential;
• expenses are lower as compared with the fees charged by foreign maritime arbitration commissions for examining disputes;
• hearings can be conducted in a foreign language;
• the decisions of the MAC are final and binding and may be enforced abroad in line with the 1958 New York Convention, which has been ratified by more than 170 countries globally, including countries that do not have legal assistance treaties concluded with Russia.

To be able to resolve potential contractual disputes before the MAC it would be prudent to include a stipulation to this effect in the contract.