Alternative to the state court in Kazakhstan

 In my work, tend to recommend arbitration to my friends, colleagues and clients by having arbitration clause in their contracts. Below I have tried to briefly outline the main points of differentiation between state courts vs arbitration courts/centers concluding that arbitration in Kazakhstan is fast, cheap, comfortable and confidential.

Arbitration is a modern alternative to the state courts

To resolve a commercial dispute, parties - instead of the relevant state courts – are free to choose arbitration, which is a non-governmental institution, designed to help parties to come to a consensus on the disputed matter with minimal costs and efforts.

Activity of the arbitration courts in Kazakhstan is regulated by the Arbitration Law dated 8 April 2016; and the essential condition for filing claim to arbitration court is mutually agreed arbitration agreement between the parties. In other words, parties to contract may agree in advance that if dispute arises, they will submit their claims to arbitration courts rather than to the state courts.

Why people choose arbitration over classical court?

Confidentiality

In business environment the advantage of arbitration is obvious first of all because of confidentiality. So, you won’t find arbitral awards in publicly available database of the court decisions. Therefore, no commercial terms or any other sensitive information will be disclosed or become known to the third parties including competitors.

Time and Costs

Except for the public proceedings, the cases in the state courts are usually considered longer than in arbitration, and the journey through all the state courts’ instances will take more time and money for legal fees than within single arbitration.

Furthermore, an arbitration award is final and cannot, except for some procedural matters, be overruled by any other instances, while its legal force is equal to the force of a state court decision.

Simplicity and flexibility

Dispute resolution procedures in arbitrations are relatively simple and flexible, and cases are handled in more friendlier manner than in the state courts.

Choice of procedures and arbitrators

The lack of strict formalism contributes to the fact that businessman does not need to spend money on lawyers to represent his interests in arbitration, instead he may well do it by his own and choose and agree convenient location, arbitrators, language, procedure, etc. While when he goes to the state courts, these options are not available.