Projects

Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers advised clients on a number of matters related to customs regulation, among them: (i) customs benefits applied in special economic zones, in free warehouses and in territories of advanced social and economic development; (ii) customs consequences of applying agency (commission-based) models for supplies of goods, and the use of consignment and leasing agreements; (iii) the possibility to import and export commercial cargo by branch offices of foreign companies, and the import of goods used as contribution to the issued capital of a foreign investor.

Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers successfully represented companies providing services in the area of mineral production. When contesting the decisions of the Sakhalin customs authorities regarding the application of customs duties for the contractor with regard to the goods imported for the Sakhalin-2 PSA, our lawyers managed build positive case law for the importer which was subsequently applied to the Sakhalin-1 PSA as well. Moreover, the practice’s lawyers challenged in a commercial (‘arbitration’) court a decision of the customs authority disallowing the application of a customs benefit with regard to equipment imported as contribution to the issued capital. Owing to the efforts of our lawyers the client managed to avoid the need to pay additionally accrued duties in the amount of RUB 20 million.

Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers developed the optimal scenario to import equipment taking into consideration its specific features, the possibility to ship it in assembled form, and contractual relations between the clients and their suppliers of equipment. Our experts also developed a scenario to import the equipment in parts and components and set up a schedule for supplies of such parts. In order to develop a fitting import model, the following factors also had to be taken in account: (i) assigning CCFT codes to the imported equipment and its parts, (ii) the possibility to apply zero import duties and VAT rates to production equipment manufactured outside Russia, (iii) whether it was necessary to obtain certificates of conformity for the equipment and its parts and components as well as special aspects of calculating their customs value, and (iv) whether it was possible to repair or recycle conditionally released equipment as well as the customs requirements when doing so. 

Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers protected the interests of a major Latvian bank within the framework of a comprehensive project to collect bad debt. Having initiated bankruptcy proceedings of borrowing companies and the bank’s sureties, we succeeded in: including claims of USD 8 million in the register of creditors; cancelling the decision of the arbitration tribunal on which an affiliated creditor’s claim was based; and in preventing the withdrawal of the debtor’s key assets that had been pledged as security for its loan obligations. We managed to initiate the proceedings under a simplified procedure based on an application filed by a foreign bank with respect to persons other than the principal debtors. This serves as grounds for these projects to be viewed as important and setting a precedent in terms of judicial decisions resulting from a check of whether bankruptcy applications are grounded.

We represented a Client in the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in a dispute with a counterparty arising from a contract under Russian law for the supply of broiler hatching eggs. The dispute was over a debt of UDS 500,000, which our Client’s claim sought to recover. The counterparty issued a counterclaim seeking compensation of alleged losses of USD 10 million. The Client’s claim was upheld; the counterclaim was rejected. The direct involvement of Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers in the arbitration in Stockholm demonstrates our team’s wide capabilities. The project involved: drafting all the procedural documents, speaking English during the hearings, working with witnesses (preparing and interrogating the Client’s witnesses, cross-examining the counterparty’s witnesses), and working in close cooperation with our Client's Swedish lawyers engaged for the arbitral proceedings. The case was considered under Swedish arbitration legislation; aspects of English law were applied in the hearing to the concept of liquidated damages (i.e. those agreed in advance).

The practice’s lawyers provided legal support to a major global sportswear producer in a number of disputes in which it sought to recover debt from a distributor and regarding the termination of a distribution agreement. Within the framework of the project, our lawyers successfully defended the client in the court of first instance in a dispute initiated by a distributor which was seeking to invalidate a distribution agreement. In addition, Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers have completed a litigation initiated by the issuer of a USD 400,000 promissory note to secure the distributor's performance of its obligations. The issuer was seeking to have the security transaction invalidated. Our lawyers also defended the client in three court cases against a bank to receive USD 3 million secured by a bank guarantee. This project is important from the standpoint of forming judicial practice relating to the enforcement of security for obligations in situations where the issuer of the promissory note has no obvious economic interest in the secured obligation, and when bank guarantees contain incorrect wording relating to the secured obligations.