Foreign Judgment Does Not Guarantee Interim Relief: LLC Eurochem North-West-2 v Tecnimonth Spa

The Bombay High Court declined to grant interim relief, where a judgment of the Commercial Court of the City of Moscow, Russia was sought to be relied on as conclusive evidence of debt. The Court held that a foreign judgment does not automatically entitle a party to interim protection in India where the judgment does not meet the test of conclusiveness under Indian law.

Background

The dispute arose out of a series of onshore and offshore engineering contracts executed for the EuroChem Group's fertiliser project in Russia. Following the suspension of contractual performance in the wake of EU sanctions, Tecnimont commenced ICC arbitration proceedings in London in accordance with the parties' arbitration agreement. EuroChem participated in the arbitration and filed counterclaims. While those arbitral proceedings were pending, EuroChem instituted proceedings before the Moscow Commercial Court and obtained a judgment in its favour. EuroChem subsequently instituted a suit under §13 of the