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Structure
of the Economic Court is regulated by the 1992 Regulation (Art’s
6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14) and Agreement (Art. 2) as well as 1997 Rules of
the Procedure (Part II).
Each
member-state appoints/elects equal numbers (2) of judges to the
bench of the court. In 2002, Resolution of the Council of the Heads
of States “On measures directed to increase effectiveness of the
functioning of the bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States
and efficiency of their organization.” proposed to decrease the
number of judges elected/nominated to the bench to one from each
member-state. Judges are elected/nominated by the member-state
following the existing procedure under the domestic law for
nomination/election of judges to the highest commercial courts
and/or courts of arbitration. The nominees are chosen solely on the
basis of their professional record from the judges of the commercial
courts or courts of arbitration or other individuals who are
specialists in the area of economic law and that have a
post-secondary degree in law (1992 Regulation Article 7). The
regulation also guarantees some degree of judicial independence from
their home governments through provisions providing personal
immunity, disallowing judges to hold governmental positions or to be
involved in any sort of commercial activity with the exception of
research work or teaching (1992 Regulation Article 8) and requiring
the member states to provide security equal to that which is
provided to the judges in the domestic courts of the member-states.
In addition, neither President nor Vice-Presidents can be removed
from their office for the period of tenure except in cases of the
abuse of their position, commission of a crime, or sickness. The
period of tenure of the judges of the Economic Court is 10 years.
There is a procedure set up by the 1997 Rules requiring all judges
to take an oath at the moment of assuming the office. (1997 Rules
Article 7). President and Vice-Presidents of the court are elected
for 5 years by judges of the court by majority vote which is later
approved by the Council of Heads of States (1992 Regulations Article
7 § 3).
The
court can sit in three forms: chambers, full court, Plenum.
Chambers
are elected by the full court for a period of 1 year with the
purpose of considering all contentious cases (1997 Rules Article 9).
They consist of 3 or 5 judges. Head of the chamber is also elected
by the full court from the members of that chamber (1997 Rules
Article 10). Judges sitting in chambers do not have a right to
abstain from voting. Decisions are made on the basis of simple
majority. In case of a tie, the decision of the head of the chamber
is considered to be determinative.
A
full court consists of all judges of the Economic Court. Its
decision making and voting procedures are the same as they are for
chambers. During hearings by the full court at least 50% of the
judges elected to the bench must be present for the court to be able
to pass a decision.
“Plenum
consists of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Economic Court
as well as Chief Justices of the highest commercial courts and
courts of arbitration and other highest governmental bodies
designated to settle economic conflicts in the member-states”
(1992 Regulation Art. 10 & 1997 Rules Art. 13). President of the
Economic Court is also a President of the Plenum of the Economic
Court, while Secretary of the Plenum is elected by the members of
the Plenum from among themselves by majority vote for a period of 5
years (1997 Rules Art. 14). During the hearings by Plenum at least
2/3 of the judges elected to the bench must be present for the court
to be able to pass a decision. The decision is made on the basis of
a simple majority vote. The decision is final and is not subject to
appeal. No judge participating in voting has a right to abstain
(1992 Regulation Art. 10; 1997 Rules Art. 20). Plenum holds its
hearings no less than once a quarter. Plenum has three primary
functions (1992 Regulation Art.10):
1.
considers appeals of the
decisions of the Economic Court;
2.
issues recommendations
for the purpose of maintaining uniform application of the agreements
and other acts of the Commonwealth and its institutions to the
resolution of economic disputes;
3.
develops and submits for
consideration of the member-states and CIS institutions propositions
on solutions to conflicts of laws of the member-states. The wording
of this section of Article 10 of the 1992 Regulation is not very
clear in Russian, as word-for-word translation seems to refer to the
conflict of laws within domestic legal systems, while it appears the
intention of this article has been either to provide for
jurisdiction to solve conflicts of laws between legal systems of
different member-states (this seems to be the most reasonable
interpretation) or conflicts of laws between, on the one hand, legal
systems of different member-states and CIS agreements/regulations,
on the other hand.
The
seat of the court is in Minsk (Belarus). On the 22nd of November
1996 ‘Agreement on the conditions of presence of the Economic
Court of the Commonwealth of Independent States on the territory of
the Republic of Belarus’ was signed in Minsk. It came into force
on June 12th, 1997. In accordance with Article 22 of the Agreement:
“The Republic of Belarus guarantees non-interference of the
government of the Republic of Belarus into the decision-making
function of the court.”
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