Point of law: whether the decision of a commercial arbitration court is lawful if the power of attorney of a party’s representative did not contain an explicit permission to participate in arbitration proceedings.

Alternative views: 1) the right to represent a person in arbitration proceedings should be specifically mentioned in the power of attorney; or 2) no specific provision to that effect is required as long as the power of attorney contains a general provision on procedural representation.

Ratio decidendi: no specific provision as to the right to participate in arbitration proceedings is required. In coming to this conclusion, the Presidium referred to the decree of the Constitutional Court of Russia of 26 May 2011 № 10-П, which says that arbitration courts constitute not a part of the State (judicial) power in Russia, but a kind of alternative dispute resolution which is in fact a discharge of a contractual duty provided for in an arbitration agreement. Therefore, if the power of attorney did provide for the right to enter into such agreement and to control its fulfillment, the power to participate in the proceedings should be implied.

Practical consequences: the Judgment says that prior court decisions in analogous cases if inconsistent with this interpretation may be reversed in the procedure and within the limits envisaged by Art 311 of the Commercial Procedure Code.