AZERBAIJAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Parviz Huseynov, GRATA International, Azerbaijan
shall be resolved in favour of the validity and existence of the arbitration agreement. 3.2 Arbitrability The effectiveness of an arbitration agreement ulti - mately depends on whether the subject matter of the dispute is capable of settlement by arbitration. Accordingly, Azerbaijani legislation identifies disputes that are non-arbitrable under the Law on Arbitration and those that fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the national courts pursuant to the Civil Procedure Code. The Law on Arbitration sets out an exhaustive list of disputes that are non-arbitrable. These include: • criminal matters and administrative offence pro - ceedings; • disputes arising out of administrative and other public law relationships; • family law disputes; • matters concerning the legal status of individuals; • employment disputes; • disputes in the field of environmental protection; • inheritance matters; • disputes relating to the establishment and registra - tion of intellectual property rights; • disputes relating to competition law and the protection of consumer rights, as well as disputes arising in connection with consumer credits; • disputes relating to ownership and other rights in rem over immovable property located within the • cases relating to claims for the liquidation of a legal entity or the annulment of its decisions (where the legal entity has its legal address (place of estab - lishment) in the Republic of Azerbaijan); • disputes involving individuals, except where such disputes arise out of their entrepreneurial activities; • cases relating to claims against carriers arising from contracts of carriage; and • disputes relating to the lease of immovable prop - erty situated within the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan; • bankruptcy and insolvency issues; A limited exception to this general rule is established. In particular, the last two categories of disputes iden -
tified above may be resolved by a domestic arbitral tribunal. The Civil Procedure Code provides that the follow - ing matters fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan: • cases concerning property rights over immovable property, as well as claims related to the lease or pledge of such property, if the property in ques - tion is located within the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan; • cases concerning the recognition of the authentic - ity or lack of authenticity of a legal entity, as well as claims regarding the dissolution of a legal entity or the annulment of its decisions, if the legal entity has a registered address (place of business) in the Republic of Azerbaijan; • cases concerning the recognition of the validity of patents, trade marks or other rights, if the regis - tration of such rights or the filing of applications for their registration took place in the Republic of Azerbaijan; • cases where an enforcement order issued in the course of judicial proceedings has been requested or carried out in the Republic of Azerbaijan; • cases involving claims against carriers arising from carriage (transportation) contracts; and • cases concerning the dissolution of marriage between citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan and foreign nationals or stateless persons, provided that both spouses have their place of residence in the Republic of Azerbaijan. In substance, the matters falling within the exclusive jurisdiction of the national courts largely correspond to those that are not capable of settlement by arbitration. It should, however, be noted that the relevant provi - sions of the Civil Procedure Code were enacted prior to the adoption of the Law on Arbitration. 3.3 National Courts’ Approach Under the Law on Arbitration, where court proceed - ings are commenced in respect of a matter covered by an arbitration agreement, the court is required to refer the parties to arbitration, provided that a party raises an objection before the examination of the merits and the arbitration agreement is not manifestly
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