Separation of applicable law and arbitration jurisdiction in international maritime trade contracts

The article is devoted to the legal structure in which the law governing the main maritime trade contract and the arbitration jurisdiction within which the dispute is resolved are chosen separately by the parties. It is shown that such a model does not contradict either Russian private international law or modern international arbitration law, since the contractual statute, the law of the arbitration agreement and the law of the place of arbitration perform different functions. Based on the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Law of the Russian Federation "On International Commercial Arbitration", the Code of Merchant Shipping of the Russian Federation, the New York Convention of 1958, as well as the current rules of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center (HKIAC), Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), Dubai International Arbitration Center (DIAC) and The Istanbul Arbitration Centre (ISTAC) substantiates the conclusion that the combination of English law with a neutral arbitration platform is a legally permissible and practically justified model for charter-shipments, bills of lading, and international purchase and sale agreements related to maritime transportation. Special attention is paid to the Russian procedural context of 2026, including articles 248.1 and 248.2 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, which require additional verification of the feasibility of a foreign arbitration clause from the point of view of Russian participants in foreign trade.

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