The issue of deferral of enforcement of an arbitral award for which an enforcement order has been issued must be resolved by the commercial court of appeal that issued such an order as the court of first instance - SC CommCC

The issue of deferral (or installment) of enforcement of a decision after the issuance of an enforcement order is resolved within the legal regime of enforcement established by the Law of Ukraine “On Enforcement Proceedings”, and the relevant procedural powers are exercised by the commercial court that considered the case as the court of first instance and issued the enforcement document.

The issuance of an enforcement order for an arbitral award means that the issue of deferral of enforcement is to be resolved by the competent commercial court as the court of first instance in the relevant proceedings, and not by the arbitral tribunal whose powers regarding the consideration of the specific case have been terminated.

This conclusion was reached by the Commercial Cassation Court within the Supreme Court.

In this case, the commercial court of appeal, acting as the court of first instance, issued an enforcement order for the arbitral award ordering the recovery of funds from the defendant in favour of the claimant. Subsequently, the same court granted the defendant’s application for deferral of enforcement of the arbitral award.

The Commercial Cassation Court of the Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the court of appeal on the deferral of enforcement of the arbitral award and found the claimant’s arguments regarding the lack of authority of the commercial court to defer enforcement and the need to apply to the arbitral tribunal to be unfounded.

Pursuant to Part 2 of Article 21 of the Law of Ukraine “On Arbitral Tribunals”, the powers of the arbitral tribunal that resolved the dispute are terminated after it has rendered its decision in the specific case. The restoration of the powers of the arbitral tribunal is provided for in Part 3 of this Article only in the cases specified in Articles 47–49 of the said Law.

In view of the provisions of Part 1 of Article 33 of the Law of Ukraine “On Enforcement Proceedings”, Part 2 of Article 24, and Part 1 of Article 331 of the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, the issue of deferral of enforcement of an arbitral award for which an enforcement order has been issued must be resolved by the commercial court of appeal that decided on the issuance of such an order as the court of first instance.

Resolution of the Commercial Cassation Court of the Supreme Court dated March 5, 2026, in case No. 873/116/25 (873/122/25) – https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/134730454.

This and other legal positions of the Supreme Court can be found in the Database of Legal Positions of the Supreme Court - https://lpd.court.gov.ua.