Irkutsk hosted a consultation workshop entitled “The Practice in Application of the Russian Legislation in Force. Adopting Telecommunications Technologies in the Gazprom Arbitration Court (Electronic Arbitration System)”.

Taking part in the event were Nikolai Dubik, Member of the Management Committee – Head of the Legal Department of Gazprom; Andrey Tatarinov, Director General of Gazprom dobycha Irkutsk as well as heads of subsidiary legal subdivisions.

The workshop participants discussed crucial issues concerning disputes consideration by the Gazprom Arbitration Court with the use of secure electronic document exchange. It was highlighted that the use of telecommunications and information technologies in a trial process helped considerably accelerate the settlement of disputes among the litigants from different regions. Particular attention was paid to the use of a digital signature in the proceedings.

The participants got acquainted with the electronic database of Gazprom’s local regulations. It was noted that the said database created by the Legal Department greatly facilitated the search of necessary documents and assured continuous monitoring of relevancy for Gazprom’s regulations covering all relevant subdivisions. This enabled to carry out the prompt update of Gazprom’s regulations as well as to elaborate and adopt the new ones.

At present, Gazprom Administration subdivisions frequently use the electronic database that will soon be available to the subsidiary companies and organizations as well.

Particular aspects of Gazprom’s legal practice application abroad and, first of all, in Europe was a focus of the workshop. A high interest in this subject is explained by the enactment of the EU Third Energy Package in March 2011 which drastically changed the rules of the European gas market.

During the consultation workshop the speeches were delivered on the practice of tax legislation in Gazprom and its subsidiaries.

Background

The Gazprom Legal Department has held the annual extended consultation workshop among the legal subdivisions responsible for legal support of Gazprom Group’s operations in Russia and abroad for ten years now. The workshop is aimed at exchanging knowledge among Gazprom Group’s legal subdivisions and enhancing business ties to promote further cooperation.

The Gazprom Arbitration Court was set up in 1993 pursuant to RAO Gazprom's Articles of Association for the purpose of settling economic disputes among the Company's subsidiaries. The idea behind creating the Arbitration Court was to ensure rapid and unified consideration of economic disputes, taking into account the specific nature of the gas industry.

On December 21, 2010 the Gazprom Arbitration Court held for the first time in the history of Russian arbitration courts a remote arbitration court meeting in the videoconference format.

The secure electronic document exchange is an integral part of the electronic arbitration system. The parties present all records of the court (statement of claim, statement of defense, case evidences) in the electronic form to the Arbitration Court. The digital signature secures privacy at the proceedings. At the same time, resolution of disputes is held in the videoconference format.