STATE ARBITRATION IN THE U.S.S.R.
| Date | 01 September 1955 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1955.tb00315.x |
| Published date | 01 September 1955 |
| Author | Dudley Collard |
STATE ARBITRATIQN IN THE
U.S.S.R.
("
GOSARBITRACE
")
IF
the National Coal Board were to fall out with the British
Electricity Authority about
the
performance of a contract for the
supply of coal,
no
doubt the dispute would in practice often be
referred to private arbitration; but the ultimate method of deter-
mining and enforcing the contractual rights of our nationalised
concerns is still litigation, with its uncertainty, expense and delay.
If
the National Coal Board could not agree with the British
Electricity Authority
on
the terms of a proposed new contract, for
example,
on
the price to be paid for coal, there is no method known
to
our
law for compelling the parties to enter into contractual
relations, and victory would presumably go to the most obstinate.
In
the
U.S.S.R.,
where the whole of industrial production is
elaborately planned, and where any default in supply might cause
a chain of breakdowns, and even delay in entering into contracts
envisaged by the Plan might have serious repercussions,
it
was
essential to evolve a speedy and efficient system of solving disputes
between commercial concerns
if
plans were not to be dislocated.
This has been achieved by Gosarbitrage (a portmanteau word
meaning
"
State arbitration
").
Gosarbitrage was established in
1981.
Originally responsible to the Council of Ministers,
it
has since
last year come under the Ministry of Justice. There is a U.S.S.R.
office in Moscow, offices for each of the sixteen republics, and
subordinate regional offices as requisite. Each office consists of a
chief arbitrator, his deputy, and a number of arbitrators. High
qualifications are required for the post, a thorough grounding in
law, finance and economics being insisted
on.
Gosarbitrage deals with disputes between organisations belonging
to different Ministries
:
as there are seventy-three Ministries, and as
pretty well every institution in the country comes under one
or
another of them, there is plenty of scope for its work. Where both
parties are subordinate to the same Ministry, there is
a
system of
arbitration within the Ministry concerned. International arbitration
involving foreign
firms
is dealt with by the All-Union Chamber of
Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
Gosarbitrage settles disputes arising
from
breaches of contract,
non-contractual obligations
(e.g.,
the valuation of property which
is
being transferred from one Ministry to another), torts causing
damage, and money had and received; but that by
no
means
exhausts its functions. Within two years of its establishment,
it
was given power to arbitrate
on
the terms to be inserted in
proposed
474
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