Supreme Court judge analyses capabilities of national courts and international institutions in resolving investment disputes

Ukraine's recovery will require an international investment programme. At the same time, potential investments in the post-war reconstruction of the country must be reliably protected. This was stated by Ihor Benedysiuk, Secretary of the Judicial Chamber for Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Antitrust and Competition Law of the Commercial Cassation Court of the Supreme Court, during the III Business & Legal Infrastructure Forum.

The speaker focused on the possibilities and prospects of protecting investors' rights within the national judicial system. In particular, he gave an example of a dispute between a specialised court chamber and an investor who applied to a commercial court to stop the use of a trademark in Ukraine. According to Ihor Benedysiuk, since the protection of intellectual property is an important component of the country's favourable investment climate, such disputes are closely related to investment processes in the country.

As the judge of the CommCC of the Supreme Court noted, investment disputes are a rather complex category that is very difficult to define. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to create a separate specialised court to hear such disputes with a foreign element. At the same time, the availability of a qualified category of judges to hear investment disputes under the rules of commercial proceedings will have a positive result.

In addition, Ukraine has the potential for national courts to resolve investment disputes, especially given the changes in the judicial system over the past 9 years. Ihor Benedysiuk also drew attention to the fact that our country has made some progress in the development of the national system of commercial dispute resolution. According to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Ukraine has one of the highest judicial system efficiency indicators among the post-Soviet countries. This achievement was made possible by reforms and modernisation of the judicial system, including the introduction of e-justice.

Given that at the stage of filing a lawsuit it is sometimes difficult to determine which category of dispute a dispute belongs to, Ihor Benedysiuk shared his views on simplifying the procedure with the choice of court to protect investors' rights. Understanding the importance of simplifying access to court procedures, he suggested a possible way to resolve this issue through the creation of an appropriate structure or legislative provision on the principle of a ‘single window’ for further movement of the case in accordance with the established clear rules of procedural law.

Another important aspect for the qualified resolution of disputes, the judge said, is the constant improvement of the professional level of judges. This is the way the specialised judicial chamber of the CommCC of the Supreme Court is developing, as many new disputes have emerged in the IP structure that require appropriate knowledge to resolve. In this context, Mr Benedysiuk emphasised the special importance of the memorandums signed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation and, as a result, the successful conduct of a series of thematic trainings for judges specialising in IP cases.

The forum was organised by the Yurydychna Praktyka publishing house.

Photo courtesy of the event organisers.