The Arbitration court may resolve disputes provided there is an arbitration clause in a contract or a separate written agreement ( hereinafter - agreement) between the parties to submit for its resolution a certain dispute, certain categories of disputes or all disputes which have arisen or may arise between them in connection with any relationship irrespective of whether it was of contractual nature.
If there exists an arbitration clause ( agreement) between the parties which does not contain a reference to the St.Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and if a respondent does not submit his explanations to the Secretariat of the Arbitration court within 15 days from the date of receipt of a copy of the statement of claim or rejects arbitral proceedings at the Arbitration court of the St.Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the claimant shall be informed that arbitral proceedings may not take place.
If in the arbitration clause ( agreement) in the name "Arbitration court at the St.Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry" instead of the words " arbitration court" there are used synonyms of these words taken from other languages or other synonyms, in such a case the Arbitration court shall be entitled to take the case for consideration.
If the parties have agreed to apply to the Arbitration court at the St.Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry they, therefore, shall obey these Regulations.
If either party brings forward one or several claims as regards the existence or validity of the arbitration clause or agreement to refer the dispute to the Arbitration court at the St.Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry and if the Arbitration court is convinced by first impression that such an arbitration clause ( agreement) exists, the Arbitration court may, without prejudice to the question of possibility and validity of the claim or claims, take the case for consideration.
The question of jurisdiction of the Arbitration court in a given case shall be decided by the arbitral tribunal examining the case. For that purpose the arbitration clause which forms part of a contract shall be treated as an agreement independent of the other terms of the contract. A decision by the Arbitration court that the contract is null and void shall not entail ipso jure the invalidity of the arbitration clause.