Two CIS courts viable with different degrees of integration

11:30, 9 July 2012

MINSK. July 9. KAZINFORM Two legal institutions - the CIS Economic Court and the EurAsEC Court - are viable in the Commonwealth of Independent States, provided different degrees of integration between the countries stay in place. The opinion was voiced by Vladimir Slesarev, Deputy Presiding Judge of the Supreme Arbitration Court of Russia, who took part in an international scientific and practical conference in Minsk on 6 July. The conference was timed to the 20th anniversary of the CIS Economic Court, BelTA has learned.

The expert explained: "Should other countries join the Customs Union in time, having two courts operate in the same space will most likely be one too many".

Speaking about the operation of the CIS Economic Court, Vladimir Slesarev said the court could do with more work. The institution has been designed with very tight economic integration in mind. At present Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus maintain tight cooperation in the Commonwealth of Independent States while cooperation between other countries is sporadic. Expanding functions and the competence of the Economic Court will allow resolving the problem of work shortage in time, believes Vladimir Slesarev.

The CIS and the Economic Court are inextricably intertwined with each other. "Nobody doubts the viability of the CIS because it is a legal form that economically, politically and legally unites countries and therefore it needs the court," he said. If the intensity of ties in the Commonwealth (primarily economic ones) goes higher, the effectiveness of the CIS Economic Court will proportionally increase.

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