MOSCOW, May 22 . The Moscow Arbitration Court, at the request of Russian Railways (RZD), recovered from Siemens Mobility a court penalty in the amount of more than 6 million rubles for each day of non-execution of a court decision, which declared illegal the refusal of a subsidiary of the German concern Siemens to fulfill a contract for the supply of 13 high-speed electric trains «Sapsan» and to which the defendant was obliged to fulfill this agreement dated June 7, 2019.
According to a correspondent from the courtroom, the court satisfied the plaintiff's application in part — Russian Railways was asked to recover astrent in the amount of about 30 million rubles a day.
In April, after the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal dismissed Siemens Mobility's complaint, this February decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court entered into force. As the plaintiff's representative explained on Monday, the motion to award astrenet was made in order to force the defendant to execute a judicial act regarding the continuation of the execution of the contract.
The defendant stated that astrent is an institution of Russian law, and the contract is governed by German law, so the plaintiff should be denied. In addition, according to the defendant, astrenet is awarded when the decision is enforceable in principle, in this case, Siemens employees cannot execute it under pain of criminal liability. Finally, the representative of the German company drew the court's attention to the fact that losses were actually claimed under the guise of a penalty, as well as to its excessive amount. As the defendant noted, if it is awarded, the plaintiff will receive an amount equal to the profit for 2021 in a year.
An agreement for the purchase and maintenance of new Sapsan vehicles was signed by Russian Railways in June 2019. Siemens Mobility and Sinara Group JSC have committed to supply 13 ten-car trains from September 2022 to July 2023. The total value of the supply contract is 513.5 million euros, RZD said in a statement. In addition, Siemens took over the maintenance and repair of the rolling stock. composition during its entire service life (30 years).The cost of an additional maintenance agreement amounted to another 583.1 million euros.
But in October, Siemens Mobility sent a notice to Russian Railways about the termination of the contract «due to sanctions imposed on Russian legal entities,» as stated in the court decision.
The court, while satisfying the claim of Russian Railways, indicated that «the sanctions legislation of the US and the EU is contrary to public policy, and as a result should not be applied on the territory of the Russian Federation,» therefore, the defendant did not have the right to terminate the contract unilaterally. In addition, the court noted that restrictive measures, according to the explanations of the EU itself, “are not applicable to agreements that have already taken place and are being implemented.”
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