Judge Cockerill held that, under the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982, a foreign ruling on state immunity can be enforced in England if that same decision would have been reached in England.
Russia contends that Judge Cockerill was wrong, and that the English court must consider for itself whether the case falls into an exception for state immunity under the U.K.’s 1978 State Immunity Act.
Russia claims the case does not fall into the exception in Section 9 of the act, which says a state does not have immunity if it has submitted to arbitration.
The awards were set aside by the District Court of The Hague two years after they were issued. That decision was reversed in February 2020 by The Hague Court of Appeal, which ruled that the tribunal had jurisdiction and that its application of the underlying Energy Charter Treaty did not violate Russian law.
The Dutch Supreme Court rejected Russia’s jurisdictional challenges in November 2021, sending the case back to reconsider whether Russia can pursue allegations of procedural fraud in the arbitration proceedings.
