The principal changes relate to the authority of arbitrators to grant interim measures. The Law will allow the provision of preliminary or "emergency" interim measures which can be applied for and granted before the statement of claim is filed by the claimant. A decision on preliminary interim measures is made ex parte and is valid for 20 days. Within this period, the decision may be amended or renewed in light of any objections or arguments which the other party submits in reply to the application for interim measures.

The Law now specifically provides that the arbitrators will have authority to grant interim measures "unless the parties agreed otherwise", that is, the parties can deprive arbitrators of that authority in the arbitration agreement or otherwise.

Further, the Law will provide for state courts in Russia to have the authority to grant interim measures in support of any arbitration taking place in Russia and abroad. As reported previously, in the absence of clear statutory provision on this issue, it has long been debated in Russia whether the state courts have such authority (see Legal update, The Russian Federation's Supreme Arbitration Court ruled in favour of interim measures to support foreign arbitration). Although the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation confirmed that state courts do possess that authority, the proposed amendment to the Law on international commercial arbitration will put an end to this debate.

The amendments have yet to be approved by the upper chamber of the Parliament. However, it is likely that they will be adopted in the version passed by the lower chamber as this fully reflects international practice.