UKRAINE Law and Practice Contributed by: Olena Perepelynska, Krystyna Khripkova, Nadiya Mykiyevych and Anna Kozyrieva, IMPACTA LAW
1.3 Arbitration Institutions The two permanently acting arbitral institutions in Ukraine are the International Commercial Arbitration Court (ICAC) at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) and the Maritime Arbitration Commission (MAC) at the UCCI. In 2025, the ICAC registered 304 new cases, with more than 80% of cases involving Ukrainian parties. To the best of our knowledge, no new arbitral institutions have been established in Ukraine in the last 12 months. 1.4 National Courts There are no separate courts designated to hear arbi - tration-related disputes in Ukraine. Such disputes are handled by the general courts of appeal acting as courts of first instance at the seat of arbitration. Applications to set aside are submitted to the appellate court at the seat of arbitration (usu - ally Kyiv, as both ICAC and MAC are located there). Applications for recognition and enforcement of arbi - tral awards fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Kyiv Court of Appeal when the seat is outside Ukraine and under the jurisdiction of the appellate court at the place of arbitration when the seat is in Ukraine (in practice, for most cases, it will also be Kyiv). Decisions of the appeal courts acting as courts of first instance may be appealed to the Supreme Court. Court assistance in granting interim measures, examination of witnesses and collection of evidence is addressed in 6.2 Role of Courts , 8.3 Powers of Compulsion . International arbitration in Ukraine is governed by the ICA Law. The Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine (CPCU) and the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine (Com - PCU) grant and govern the Ukrainian courts’ powers related to international arbitrations. The ComPCU also envisages arbitrability rules. Ukraine is a party to the New York Convention (in force for Ukraine since 10 January 1961), the European Convention on Inter - national Commercial Arbitration (in force for Ukraine since 7 January 1964) and the Convention on the Set - 2. Governing Legislation 2.1 Governing Law
tlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (in force since 7 July 2000). The ICA Law is largely based on the 1985 version of the UNCITRAL Model Law and closely follows its structure and principles. At the same time, the most recent version of the ICA Law in force since May 2026 contains some substantive deviations and distinctive features; in particular, it allows for the referral of dis - putes involving an investor and the State or its bodies arising out of investment activities on the territory of Ukraine or another State to international commercial arbitration. The ICA Law also includes separate statu - tory categories of disputes that can be submitted to arbitration, covering disputes involving enterprises with foreign investment, international associations and organisations and bond issue administrators. At the same time, the UNCITRAL Model Law does not provide for such distinction. Although Ukraine substantially aligned its arbitration legislation with the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law, it has not implemented the principal innovations introduced by the 2006 revision of the UNCITRAL Model Law. It is worth noting that in May 2024, a working group of the Ukrainian Arbitration Association prepared a proposal aimed at strengthening the legislative frame - work, amending: • the ICA Law; Among other things, the proposal sought to incorpo - rate certain features of the 2006 UNCITRAL Model Law, most notably by introducing a mechanism to recognise and enforce interim measures ordered by arbitral tribunals. However, this proposal has not yet been adopted in Ukraine. 2.2 Changes to National Law In May 2026, amendments to the ICA Law (the new Law No 4856-IX) entered into force, further aligning Ukrainian law with the UNCITRAL Model Law. According to the general arbitrability rules set out in Article 1 (2) of the ICA Law, by agreement of the par - • the CPCU; and • the ComPCU.
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