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UNITED KINGDOM 2026-3
High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, Commercial Court (KBD), 2 March 2026, Case No: CL-2015-000396
(Hulley Enterprises Limited, Yukos Universal Limited, and Veteran Petroleum ... Read more
High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, Commercial Court (KBD), 2 March 2026, Case No: CL-2015-000396
(Hulley Enterprises Limited, Yukos Universal Limited, and Veteran Petroleum Limited v. The Russian Federation
UNITED KINGDOM 2026-3
The claimants – majority shareholders of Yukos Oil – sought exequatur of Dutch awards finding that Russia breached its obligations under the Energy Charter Treaty by expropriating Yukos Oil’s assets. The High Court granted the petition in part: (1) it dismissed Russia’s contentions that enforcement would violate public policy because of misconduct and illegality in Yukos’s operation and in the process by which Yukos had been privatized and its shares had been acquired by the claimants; but (2) it denied exequatur of awards in respect of costs, finding that the claimants had not disclosed certain relevant documents in the arbitrations and that, while disclosure would not have changed the arbitrations’ outcome, it would likely have affected the tribunal’s decision on costs.
The court discusses questions relating to the general approach taken by the Convention to the grounds for refusal of recognition and enforcement, including its pro-enforcement bias, as well as the system of the Convention, under which recognition and enforcement may only be denied on seven listed grounds and the petitioner has only the obligations set out in Art. IV.
The court discusses the principle that the merits of the award may not be reviewed and that the court may only carry out a limited review of the award to ascertain grounds for refusal.
The court discusses the burden of proof of the grounds for refusing enforcement under the Convention.
Public policy: The court discusses the meaning of (international as compared to domestic) public policy, generally defined as the basic notions of morality and justice of the enforcement State.
Public policy: The court discusses the effect of other alleged violations of public policy on the recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award, such as contradictory reasons, manifest disregard of the law (US), etc.