CZECH REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Jan Kohout and Illia Antonov, PRK Partners
6. Civil Litigation and Arbitration 6.1 Force Majeure Whilst there are certain pre-litigation disputes con - cerning withdrawal from contracts with Russian coun - terparties after 2022, most of the known cases subject to Czech law and the jurisdiction of the Czech courts were settled amicably and did not proceed to litiga - tion. The main reasons for the absence of Czech case law in this regard are, most likely, that: • contracts with Russian counterparties were often subject to foreign law and jurisdiction or contained an arbitration clause, consequently, when resolved in arbitration, such disputes are not, in principle, publicly heard, nor are the decisions publicly avail - able; and • where subject to Czech law and jurisdiction, such disputes have not been brought before the courts by Russian counterparties. 6.2 Enforcement The full range of protections for decisions made in good faith to comply with sanctions, together with the procedural instruments available under the respec - tive sanctions regimes – in particular those targeting Russia – may be invoked before the Czech courts. For example: • the prohibition on the satisfaction of claims under sanctioned contracts; • non-recognition of non-EU court decisions involv - ing sanctioned persons; • non-recognition of decisions rendered under the Russian “Lugovoy Law” and the related anti-suit injunction recently introduced; • claims for damages arising from foreign proceed - ings involving Russian counterparties; and • prohibition on transactions with persons who litigate in Russia or enforce Russian judgments in breach of the sanctions regulations..
Challenges to sanctions designations made at EU lev - el fall outside the competence of the Czech authorities and are subject to review by the EU authorities. 4.2 Remedies Delisting may be achieved by objecting to the desig - nation under the national legislation, as described in 4.1 Process . A claim for damages is not statutorily excluded if the delisting objections are successful. It should be noted that no objections against listing at national level have been successful to date, and the approach of state authorities and courts to possible claims for damages arising from delisting therefore remains a theoretical possibility and cannot be pre - dicted. 4.3 Timing The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall submit objections against designation to the Government within 30 days of receiving the objections, appending its own posi - tion on the objections after consultations with other concerned authorities. The government shall make a decision on the objec - tions within 30 days of receiving the objections from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Judicial review of the Government’s decision may take several years if reviewed by higher courts and/or the Constitutional Court. 5. Trade and Export Restrictions 5.1 Services No export or import bans are imposed at national level beyond those under the directly applicable EU legisla - tion. 5.2 Goods No export or import bans are imposed at national level beyond those under the directly applicable EU legisla - tion.
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