Investment Court In Kazakhstan

On 31 October 2015, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter - the "RK") signed the new Civil Procedure Code (hereinafter - the "CPC"), which came into force on 1 January 2016. One of the major innovations is the change in the jurisdiction of investment disputes that (depending on the size of investment) will be considered by the Court of Astana and the Supreme Court of the RK as a matter of the court of first instance.

What do investment and investment activity imply?

Investment refers to all types of property (other than goods intended for personal use), including financial leasing of objects and the rights to them, invested by the investor for the charter capital of legal entity, or for the increase of fixed assets used for entrepreneurial activities, as well as for the implementation of public-private partnership project, including concession project. The investors are individuals and legal entities engaged in investment in the RK. Investor's activities for the implementation of such investments are regarded as investment activities.1

Which disputes are recognized as investment disputes?

Investment dispute refers to a dispute arising from contractual obligations2 between investors, including major investors and state authorities3 in connection with the investment activities of the investor.4

The following types of disputes are regarded as investment disputes:

disputes related to conclusion, amendment, and termination of investment agreements; disputes relating to the investor's compliance with tax, customs, social, environmental, and other liabilities arising from investment agreement, including investor's challenging of the amounts accrued under the agreement; disputes concerning the investor's appeal of actions (failure to act) of state authorities in the course of inspection on the compliance with the terms of investment agreement; disputes related to the return of property given to the investor as a state in-kind grant or the recovery by state authority of its value in case of early termination of the investment agreement; other disputes, both for claims of investors and government agencies, related to the performance of mutual obligations under the investment agreement. Disputes considered by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan

In accordance with the new CPC, the Supreme Court of the RK considers and decides the civil cases on investment disputes, a party to which is a major investor as a matter of the...