In this decree the Supreme Commercial Court has resolved a number of controversial issues relating to the reduction of contractual penalty by way of court decisions. In particular, the Court has: - listed those arguments of the defendant which may not serve as a ground for the reduction of a penalty; - pointed out that the penalty may not be reduced at the own initiative of the court; - recommended to the courts, when determining the commensurability of the amount of penalty to the consequences of the failure to perform the obligation, to proceed from the double interest rate of the Bank of Russia, and determined those exceptional circumstances in which the reduction of a penalty below this level is allowed; - held that cassation commercial courts may not consider cases on the reduction of penalty, because it is not a question of law; - explained that the rules of Art 333 apply also to such measure of liability for the failure to perform an obligation as deposit and the transfer of things determined by generic indicia.

Practical consequences: the Judgment does not provide for the possibility to reverse the judicial decisions that are already in force on the grounds of interpretations given by the Judgment. Therefore, such interpretations may guide only future disputes (arising after the date of its publication, i.e. 10 January 2012).